Mansion Madness
by Maurice A. Nigma
Summary: As Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails along with their two human friends come to the Mushroom Kingdom for a visit, Luigi gets a letter saying he's won a Mansion...one filled with ghosts that leads to another adventure.  Sonic and Mario Crossover
1. Arriving for a Visit

**Disclaimer:** The _Mario Bros_ and characters related to them and mentioned belong to the people at **Nintendo**. And the three characters from _Sonic the Hedgehog_ belong to the makers in **SEGA**.

Now _Clayton Mario_, the OC belongs to** NUTCASE1733**. Trust me, he did a very good job with the info on the Mario characters and such. XDDD.

Anyways, what I do own is my main OC _Miguel_ going to be mentioned here. The story itself is a collab story between both me and **NUTCASE** while we were role playing. I hope that you all enjoy the story. So on with the show!

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><p><strong>Mansion Madness<strong>

It was another bright day in Grass Land within the Mushroom Kingdom. Just right at the outskirts of the capital; Toad Town, a portal shaped like a golden ring appeared right as two young boys around fifteen along with three humanoid animal creatures came through. They all took the time to get a good look at their surroundings right as one of them, a cocky blue hedgehog, looked around and smiled as he took a long breath.

"Well, here we are guys! The Mushroom Kingdom!" Sonic said with a wide, happy grin. He then took another deep breath. "Ahhh! Fresh air and wide open spaces! Just the way I like it!"

"Got that right, Sonic!" The red figure with dreadlocks said to Sonic while looking around their new surroundings. "I'm glad Shadow agreed to look after the Master Emerald for me. I really needed the break..."

"What do you think of all this, Sam?" asked a young, two tailed fox who was looking at a young man who wore a pair of old glasses, who was also looking around his surroundings.

"Have you guys got any idea how long I dreamed of a chance like this? I may as well have died right now and gone to heaven."

A young man with a strange gold and silver sword with a four pointed red star only chuckled as he used its blade to mystically close the portal as he spoke, "Ha ha ha. And if not for the fact that I've found you doing weird things like a cartoon thanks to that emerald fragment you've found, then you wouldn't be here right now, Sammy."

"I should have known something was up when I found that thing," Sam said as he looks to his glasses for a moment and puts them back on after checking on them. "There's never been emeralds mined out of Texas. Onyx, Topaz, and Opals yes, but never emeralds."

"Anyway, since you're the big expert on Mario's world, can you tell where we are right now?" Tails asked while looking to the human boy.

"Yeah, easily this is Grass Land. The greenery alone is a dead giveaway."

"Got that right, Sammy!" Sonic said as he stretched his legs and body. "AHH! And nothing like the good open spaces for us to run around in! Wouldn't you agree, Knuckles?"

Knuckles could only nod at the blue hedgehog's words, "Man, and to think that I was too hard headed to know that Miguel wasn't lying about having the Master Emerald."

"Hey, you were a Knucklehead at the time, Knux. It happens."

The red echidna could only growl at Sonic's words right as Sam looked around before he spoke up pointing to a random green hill, "Ok, judging by our current location we shouldn't be far from Toad Town. That hill behind us looks a lot like the one in Paper Mario which leads from Goomba Village, so the west gate should be ahead of us."

Miguel could only chuckle as he spoke while putting his huge sword away through mystical means as it vanished from sight, "Right, Sam. It shouldn't be too much of a worry seeing that I'm a bit known to the place as well as Sonic and the guys. Though...It's been two years since then."

"Relax, it's a straight walk from here from what I saw in the game," Sam said while thinking. "Reality issues aside, there shouldn't be anything different, really."

"Yeah it's like when I got the chance to see some of the Sonic games back at Miguel's place," Tails said while thinking and looking around at the same time. "The scale is smaller than it is in reality but a lot of what is seen is pretty much the same."

"Yeah, but it's good to have some fans who see us as heroes, little bud," Sonic said with a nod while at turning to the dirt path. "Anyways, we should get going guys! Man, is Mario really going be surprised to see us again! I wonder how he's doing anyways."

"If I remember correctly, he's likely stuffing his face or something." Knuckles said as he began to shudder at a thought. "At least he's saner than Lina."

"That's for sure, Knux." Miguel added with a shrug before turning to the dirt path. "Anyways, let's get to town guys alright?"

Sam nodded with that statement, "Yeah I'm feeling a bit hungry anyway. Might as well have lunch at Mario's."

The group walked down the stretch of Goomba Road until moments later they all reached the west gate Sam had mentioned. They soon entered Toad Town while noticing how busy the citizens are with their daily routines. Sam could only smile at the sights he was seeing.

"Just as I remember from the game. That on our immediate left is Russ T's house. He's the town's brainiac and runs the local library. There's a shop, they got a lot of good stuff at discount prices from what I remember. Around the corner is the local martial arts dojo."

Knuckles could only look at the young man as he spoke, "Man, you really are a hot shot in this stuff, aren't you, Sammy?"

Sonic looked around the town and whistled with awe at the sights, "Whoa, got to hand it to the people here. They've got good tastes."

"I'll say, Blue," Miguel said while he noticed a few posters of the famous Mario Bros. A third individual dressed in light blue clothes compared to Mario's red and Luigi's green was seen in the picture; he also looked about the same age as Miguel and Sam. "Seems like things are doing fine here to me."

The third individual in question was Clayton Mario, Mario and Luigi's youngest brother. The news of a third brother greatly surprised Miguel when they first met back when the evil RoboRobotnik began his conquest, but the two became very good friends.

Clay is about the same age as Miguel, but he's already had his fair share of adventurous exploits from helping his brothers rescue Princess Peach during their trip to Dinosaur Land, helping stop the evil Smithy, and a few other crazy quests.

Clay is described as being laid-back but can be very short-tempered at times, especially when enemies get on his nerves. He's got a quick wit and a sharp tongue which often leaves his enemies crying if they don't end up throwing temper tantrums first. Miguel chuckled, figuring that Clay was like an alternate version of Sonic almost.

"Heh heh heh!" Tails chuckled while looking around as he spoke, "I wonder what the Marios been up to lately?"

"Well, as far as I can tell not a whole lot." Sam said while at the same time looking around Toad Town. "Things have been slow for the last few years as far as new adventures go when it comes to the games. They've been doing a number of sport and party-themed games to keep the money flowing enough to make a bigger adventure. I suppose the same applies with real life."

"You might be right about that, Sam," Tails said while looking at a newspaper headline from a stand and started to read. "Says here that the Mario brothers had barely won a regional soccer tournament over some guys called the Wario brothers."

This caused Miguel to whistle at the words as he said, "Wh-Whoa! Now that's something, Tails."

"Heh. Got that right, kid," Sonic added as he continued to walk along. "Wish I could try out for a game of soccer sometime. Sounds like fun!"

"We just might later on." Tails said while looking around. "Hmmm. Now if memory serves, Mario's house has a shortcut here in town."

"This is it here, tails." Sam said as everyone saw him standing next to a huge green pipe. "This was how one got to Mario and Luigi's place in Paper Mario. So here we go!"

With those words, the four eyed young man jumped into the pipe and down he went. Needless to say this caused everyone present to look on a bit surprised at his bold actions. Knuckles was the first to speak while looking dumbstruck.

"I'm still not used to that, guys!"

"Heh heh heh. But it sounds like fun to me, Knux. So lighten up! Here I go!" Sonic said while at jumping into the green pipe to go after Sam.

"Yeah, Knux! Let's get going!" Miguel said while dragging the red echidna with him to the pipe.

"Here I come!" Tails exclaimed happily as he followed the others into the pipe that leads to the Marios' home.

Little did they all know that this is just the start of another adventure coming.

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><p><strong>AN:** Sorry it took long to put up everyone but honestly I was a bit distracted with doing some things with my friends as well as having Clay to make a few add ons with these two chapters. Well, this is the first crossover story I did with characters from the Mario and Sonic series. So enjoy the next chapter.


	2. Winning a Mansion or a Nightmare?

**A/N:** Here's the second chapter of this story guys. I hope that you like it. I already told you all the Disclaimers so no need to say more. Just be sure to give credit to **NUTCASE1733** after reading too. Any questions that you may have on this fanfic, please PM me whenever possible. Thank you, and enjoy and review when possible!

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><p>Moments later after exiting the green pipe, the entire gang appeared before the home of the Super Mario Bros. Needless to say that the design of the home was unlike anything they had ever seen. Sam was the first to happily speak his opinion on it.<p>

"Man, it looks so much better in person."

Just then, a turtle creature with wings known as a Paratroopa flew down. This Paratroopa was wearing a pilot's helmet and goggles, and carried a bag of mail.

"MAIL CALL!" was what Parrakarry said while putting the letters inside the mailbox and flew away.

"Heh heh heh, I see some things don't change around here," Sam said with a chuckle.

"Who was that?" Tails asked. "I don't remember him from our last visit."

"That was Parrakarry." Sam explained. "He was one of Mario's partners when he went on his quest for the Star Rod. He was declared the slowest mailman around, but Mario helped him with his deliveries, and in return Parrakarry showed he was one heck of a force."

"Doesn't look like much to me." Knuckles said in a huff.

"That koopa had some pretty effective attacks, Knuckles. He's a pretty tough fighter." Sam explained matter-of-factly. "I mean, people will steal ANYTHING these days. Even one's mail given the chance."

Knuckles thought this over, then said, "Ok, I'll give you that one."

"Yeah I agree too. Given the Marios' fame around here, it wouldn't surprise me." Miguel said as he searched through the mailbox with a sigh. "Perhaps there's some threatening letters from Baby Wack as well."

"Given from what we've seen of that guy, it wouldn't surprise me in the least, kid," Knuckles said while remembering the Koopa King.

A familiar man with a black bushy mustache and in green stepped out of the house to check the mail. Luigi caught sight of the group and smiled given that most are familiar to him.

"Hey kids, it's good to see ya!"

"Hey, Luigi!" Miguel said with a smile to the plumber. "Long time no see!"

"Got that right!" the blue hedgehog exclaimed as he quickly gets right in front of Luigi using his speed. "Good to see ya again, man!"

"Ahh! Hey, take it easy with the speed boosts, kid!" the plumber said with a jump right as he turned to Sam. "Who's this guy?"

"I'm Sam Baker, a friend of Miguel's from his own world," the boy said while at the same time really happy at looking at Luigi. "I've dreamed of meeting you and Mario for a long time, but I was surprised to hear about you guys having a third brother."

"Hehe, it's good to meet a new kid in the group," the plumber said as he opened the mailbox to get the mail and leads the group in. "Come on in guys, make yourselves at home."

Just like that, the group entered into the Marios' home and made themselves comfy on the chairs and sofa.

"I see the house hasn't changed since we were here last," Tails spoke while getting seated on a chair.

"Not a lot happens here," Luigi responded as he looks through the letters.

Just then a familiar man wearing red overalls and in a red chef's hat came into the living room he held a wooden spoon. To the two human boys, they're seeing Mario coming into the room

"Hey Weegie, do we have any...?" was what Mario said before seeing the new comers. "Oh hey paisanos!"

"Hey, Mario! Good to see ya again," Miguel said while turning to the Mobians as well as Sam. "Brought some of the gang as well as a new friend of mine."

"Yo, Mario! Good to see ya," Knuckles said as he pointed to Sam while looking around. "The new kid here's Sam Baker. Say where's your little brother at?"

Mario was the one to answer the Guardian's question, "Clay's on a job with Krunch off at Koopa Village. They should be back pretty soon."

Those words got Sam's attention, "Wait, Krunch?"

"Krunch is a friend of Clay's," Tails answered. "He's something called a Kremling. He got on his boss' bad side one day and he's been thrown out of his homeland."

"I know who Krunch is, I'm just surprised that the guy found his way here," Sam said while still surprised at the discovery.

"Hey, I'm just as surprised about it as you are, Sammy. Possibly more so given," Miguel added as he just shrugs off the words.

Krunch, as Tails mentioned was a Kremling; a humanoid crocodile similar to Knuckles' friend; Vector. Krunch was pretty similar to Vector except Krunch had yellow eyes and was often scowling due to his attitude. He also wore a tattered black vest with a skull and crossbones on the back; the skull being typically a crocodile skull.

Krunch hailed from a place known as Crocodile Island, the homeland of the Kremling race. His former boss was an evil being known as King K. Rool. One day Krunch was spying on K. Rool's enemies, the Kong clan on the island of Kongo Bongo when a chimpanzee named Diddy Kong and a few of his friends ran off talking about a neighboring island in trouble. Krunch, thinking they were trying to meddle in one of K. Rool's plans, followed them.

Krunch had followed the apes to an island known as Tiger Track Island; known across the world as a racer's paradise. Problem was an extraterrestrial threat came to the island in the form of a giant, pig sorcerer known as Wizpig. Krunch had also met some of Diddy's other friends and a number of the island's locals. Among Diddy's other friends was Clayton Mario himself who had gained a reputation as a racer a few months before.

Krunch thought about the matter at hand and figured Wizpig may eventually interfere with K. Rool's plans so he offered his help despite everyone not trusting him. After Wizpig was defeated Krunch was exiled by K. Rool on the basis that he was hanging around primates; namely Diddy, Clay, Diddy's girlfriend Dixie, and her little sister Tiny.

With no place to go, he wandered until he came across Toad Town where he met Clay again. After explaining what happened to his brothers, they welcomed Krunch into the family where he's lived and worked as a plumber ever since.

"So pasta man, still in good shape as ever given what's going on since we last been here?" Sonic asked while looking to Mario's direction who simply shrugged.

"Meh, can't complain."

"We finally managed to get some relaxation time after that last nightmare," Luigi said with a bit of a shiver.

"Considering what happened, I gotta agree. That would constitute as a nightmare," Sam said with interest as he fixed his glasses up a bit. "I really thought Smithy was toast until I heard the story."

"Got that right, Sammy," Miguel replied with a nod. "It's something that I never thought to experience in person."

"Still, that was two years ago that happened..." Sam said while looking to everyone "...you guys are tougher than most folks."

Those words caused Luigi to look at the four eyed young man as he spoke, "Do you know how tough Smithy is?"

"Yeah, I have the game."

"Well, he was working with a second apocalyptic metal head if you didn't know..." Luigi said with a shiver as he thought about the memory.

Sam could only shrug, "I wouldn't really know about RoboRobotnik, really."

"Just an alternate version of Robotnink but who's entirely mechanical and a much nasty dude to boot. Enough said," Sonic answered while making himself comfortable on the couch.

"Anyway, make yourselves at home, I'm just gonna take a look at the mail here..." Luigi said as he tossed a few envelopes aside.

Two of them sported Bowser's emblem, clearly a weak threat of some kind. A couple of others looked like bills. That's when he noticed a particular letter with his name on it.

"Hmmm? **You may have won**..." the thin plumber said while tossing it aside. "...yeah, we may have won, but you want us to buy something no doubt..."

"What is that, Luigi?" the older brother asked looking at the letter Luigi tossed out.

"Ah, some wise guy sent us this letter saying we won something."

Knuckles only scoffed at those words, "Hmph! Like that's something new, pal."

Sonic on the other hand was curious as he spoke up, "Just what is it that you've _"Won"_ anyways?"

"A lifetime supply of those plastic things on the end of shoelaces I bet," Sam said adding to the echidna's sentiments.

Tails only sighed, "I wouldn't be surprised."

"Hmm..." Luigi muttered as he opened and read the letter before being surprised moments later. "No way! It says we won a mansion!"

Okay that clearly got everyone in the room to turn to the green clad plumber in shock. Sam was the first to speak his opinion.

"What?"

"A mansion!" Tails said clearly as surprised as everyone else.

"You're just making that up, Luigi!" Knuckles exclaimed looking to the taller plumber.

Miguel goes and looked over Luigi's shoulder for a closer look before he spoke up, "Well, what does it say exactly, Luigi?"

"Congratulations, lucky sir. Your name was drawn in our Super Deluxe Raffle drawing last Thursday," Luigi read while looking to the letter. "We award you and your family a brand-new, fully furbished Victorian-era mansion with no charge to you, the consumer."

"Wow, awesome! It'd be great for the next big party!" Mario exclaimed to his brother with excitement at the thought of owning a huge mansion.

"I dunno Mario. I don't remember entering any contest in the past few months."

"I'm with the guy in green suspenders with this one guys." Knuckles nodded while agreeing with Luigi on the statement. "I mean it does sound kinda fishy for someone to suddenly win something through the mail in a contest they didn't enter."

"Yeah this is likely some Candid Camera stunt or something," Sam added.

"Are you kidding? This is official and everything!" Mario argued while looking at the letter. "No one in their right mind would go out of their way to make something look this authentic for it to be some kind of hoax!"

"Yeah, but still..." Tails' words were cut short as Mario took a map along with the letter.

"Hey, there's even a map leading to the mansion!" Mario said as he studied it carefully and drawn out a copy on paper. "Ok, I'm gonna head out to this mansion myself and tell you guys what it's like. See ya in a few hours!"

Before anyone could say anything, the red clad ran out the door at good but even speed.

"Mario!" Luigi shouted as he saw his brother leave and face palms as he moans. "Ugh! That idiot..."

It was at that moment that Clay and his huge crocodile friend Krunch appeared through the same front door that Mario exited from.

It was then that he spoke, "Hey Luigi, why'd Mario run out singing _I'm in the Money?_"

"Just some official letter supposedly saying that Luigi's won a Mansion or something. And nice to see ya again by the way," the blue hedgehog answered clearly catching Clay's attention.

"Oh hey guys, long-time no see."

"Who's the newbie?" Krunch asked taking notice of Sam.

"I'm Sam, nice to meet you guys," the young man answered. "I'm a friend of Miguel's from his world."

"Ah so you know about us then?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Sam responded to the Kremling with a nod. "But I find it surprising you live here though."

"We can explain it later," Clay sighed as he began to sit on a chair. "We're starving after the job we did in Koopa Village."

Knuckles nodded to the young plumber's words, "Yeah, and probably Mario would come running back to us after getting a whiff of the food here too."

"Ahahaha, quite right paisano. Guess I'll get to work on it then," Luigi laughed right as he got to work on dinner.

An hour or so later, everyone's got their fill of dinner. However, there's one thing missing given that Mario's still hasn't returned from his task.

"Mario's sure been gone a while," Krunch said while looking to the clock.

"He did say he'd be a while," Sam said as he goes to look to the map and studied it. "Judging by the map, it's quite a distance from here."

"Heh, heh, heh. Not a problem for me seeing that it's a jog for my morning workout," Sonic said with his usual smirk on his face.

Miguel could only sweatdrop as a thought crossed his mind, "Be grateful that it's not while having to wear heavy boots on, Blue." That of course got everyone to raise their eyebrows at the words as he spoke, "Uh, don't ask."

"...Right," was all Sam said while shrugging it off.

Tails could only shrug as he goes to Sam while examining the map himself, "Where does the map lead exactly?"

"I dunno really. It's not really listing truly specific landmarks or anything. All it says you go through a forest and the house is on a hill in a clearing."

"Still, perhaps we should go check this out. Mario's got enough sense to get through a forest on his own but I won't have him coming home in the middle of the night." Luigi said while shivering a bit at a random memory as he spoke again. "I damn near killed him when he did so once, as I thought he was a crook coming to swipe our stuff."

"I'm with Luigi on this one, guys!" Sonic said as he got up from his seat ready for action. "Besides, for all we know, he'd probably got caught up in someone's good home cooking and lost track of time."

"For once, blue, I'm not going to argue with you on that," the red echidna agreed.

With those words, Miguel got up from his seat and spoke, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get on with it."

"I'm not really one for a trek through a forest but might as well," Sam said as he picked up the map and looked closer at it. "Ok, seems the forest we're heading to is east of here. Best we'd get going if we're to catch up."

Much later, as night fell, the group found themselves trekking through a very creepy forest. Of course naturally, some reacted to this as anyone would expect.

"A-A-Are you sure you're reading that map right, Sam...?" Tails asked while shivering right near Sonic and Knuckles.

"Of course I am, but this doesn't make sense...why would this map be leading us through Forever Forest?"

"Yeah this place is haunted after all," Clay nodded while hearing Luigi chattering his teeth loudly while waving his flashlight about.

This of course didn't go unnoticed by Sonic as he spoke, "Yo, Luigi! Get a grip on yourself! It's not that frightening!"

"Yeah! Besides..." Knuckles added while looking around the dark forest. "...compared to Pumpkin Hill, This place seems like a normal walk in the park!"

"Uh...I don't think that it's what he's worried about guys," Miguel said while holding his own flashlight forward.

Clay could only sigh as he explained, "Luigi's been afraid of dark places for as long as we could remember. But he's especially afraid of ghosts."

"Why exactly?" Tails asked.

The young plumber took a moment to think before speaking, "Well, I remember one time Mario telling me Luigi was possessed once back in Brooklyn."

This of course got Sam to turn pale at the thought as he spoke, "Oh yeah... I remember. A live action segment in one of the Mario cartoons featured Luigi getting taken over by an evil spirit. The Ghostbusters ultimately had to be called in to deal with it. Or at least Winston Zeddemor."

"That I remember given the fact that Luigi's been covered with slime. I also recall he chewed through a plate on top of it all before crushing a glass of root beer with one swipe of his hand, Sammy..." Miguel added with a shiver at the thought.

This of course got the red echidna to pale and shiver as he look to Luigi, "Ugh, man...now I feel bad for Luigi, guys."

"Yeesh...and to have to go through here? No wonder he's shaken up." the young fox said while looking to the green clad plumber.

Sam could only agree as he looked to the path and the map before saying, "Ok we should be getting close to the target guys. There should be no creepy Forever Forest now."

They looked up and instead of seeing a pleasant manor in a vibrant green field; they still see dark, dreary forest surrounding the clearing they were now in. The hill that held the mansion itself had tombstones littered about and the mansion itself was dark and forbidding. Lightning arced in the sky overhead even though no storms were broadcast for the night. Finally, only two windows had light shining through, and they were right over the door making the mansion appear it had a creepy, angry face.

The blue hedgehog was the first to speak his mind as he eyed the place, "Now that's...a real pleasant place..."

"Got that right, Blue. Really...cheerful," Knuckles said in a sarcastic tone.

One of the two human boys from looked to the scene as Miguel spoke to Sam, "Uh, Sammy, are you sure that this is the place?"

"Says so on the map..."

"I-I knew this was too good to be true..." Luigi said while shivering at the sight.

"Come on, maybe it's just the Wario brothers trying to pull rank on us again." Clay said while keeping his older brother from running away.

"Doesn't explain why Mario hasn't come back though..." the four eyed teen said looking to the place.

"Knowing the Warios, they probably have him locked in a cage to mock him or something." Clay responded.

"Or better yet, just jack him of his money after beating up on him," Miguel added with a nod. "Knowing them, they would do it too."

"Let's go inside then," Sam said as he went ahead with the others following behind.

The group made their way up the walkway to the front door. Luigi is scanning the area like a frightened animal, making sure nothing was out to get them. The older plumber slowly advanced toward the door.

"H-H-Hello...?" Luigi said he slowly opened the door and shined the flashlight into the mansion. He calms down when he sees nothing and enters followed by the others.

"For a mansion won in a contest, it's not very well-lit..." Tails said looking around at the place, mostly at the candles. "...candles only provide so much light."

Miguel could only shudder as he spoke, "Got that right, Tails. Not to mention poorly kept too."

"I'm sure that with a little dusting and paint, it would be a cheery place to hang out..." Sonic said while trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah...a good place for spiders and mice, Blue." Knuckles muttered while looking around the floors and ceiling.

As he looked, Sam's nose started twitching a bit as he gave out a small but strong sneeze. Needless to say, the four eyed teen didn't enjoy it, "Blech...damn dust."

Tails looked over and saw a door where they are at. When the young fox tried to pry it open, it wouldn't budge, "Hmm. It's locked."

"Let's try the ones upstairs," Clay said as he noticed a stairway leading upstairs.

As everyone marched up the stairs, they all saw two doors, both of which were locked. This got Luigi to speak out his thoughts on it.

"Ok, this is ridiculous."

Suddenly, something that sounded like a very faint giggle is heard, getting everyone's attention.

"Ugh...this is Pumpkin Hill all over again, guys..." Knuckles said with a shiver while looking around.

Miguel frowned at the echidna's choice words, "Ugh, don't make it worse, Knucklehead."

"For all we know it's not what you think."

With those words from Clay, everyone head back downstairs to look. When they all got back, they all saw a key on the floor. Clearly they were all surprised.

"This wasn't here before," Luigi said as he picked the key up and tried it on the ground floor door but it failed to fit. "Won't fit."

"Let's go up to the big double doors on the next floor. It could work there," Tails said as everyone in the group nodded in agreement.

The group tried the key out on the door in question and it fits. The door was slowly opened as Luigi pulls the knob. The group then entered the room, which is bone-chillingly cold.

"G-gee whiz, did someone forget to pay for heating?" the two tailed fox said shivering at the cold atmosphere inside.

Sam could only shiver as he glasses got foggy from his breath as he spoke, "I got a really bad feeling about this."

Just then, a bright orange ghost with glowing yellow eyes appeared right in front of Luigi.

"BRAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!"

And of course, green clad plumber could only react to the situation in the only way he knew how as he screamed, "!"

Luigi then quickly moved himself right behind Sonic in fright just as the blue hedgehog said, "Ah! Get a grip of yourself, man!"

Before anyone could say anything, an orange ghost crept toward the group menacingly. It laughed at Knuckles' attempts to punch it away and the punched Knuckles in the face in return. This clearly got the red echidna riled up.

"Why that little...!"

Miguel quickly stopped the muscle bound Mobian as he spoke up, "Knux, stop! I'd doubt that your fists would work in this situation!"

Sam hurried to the door only to find it locked shut. "It won't open, we're trapped!"

Before the ghost could attack again, he's stopped in his tracks as a funnel of wind suddenly stuck to his head. Looking behind it, they see an old man with a vacuum cleaner fighting the ghost.

"Heheheh! Don't worry boys, I got 'im!" the old man said as he started reel in the ghost.

This of course got mixed reactions from everyone. Sonic was the first to voice his opinion while sweatdropping at the sight.

"Uh, is that guy using what I think he's using against a ghost guys?"

"If you mean the fact that he's trying to suck the ghost up in a vacuum Sonic, then it's not just you, man. Trust me." Miguel answered while at the same time watching the old man do his work.

"Hey old man, watch out!" Sam shouted.

"I got 'im, don't worry about me sonny!" the old man shouted just as he was suddenly dragged around the room. "WH-WHOA!"

The ghost then turned and punched the old man in the face with an upper cut, throwing him off. The ghost laughs and vanishes. The group hurried over to the person who just saved their lives.

"Hey are you alright!" Tails asked the old man in concern.

The old man shook his head right as he spoke with a nod, "Ow! I sure take a lot of knocks in this line of work!"

"Just who the heck are you anyway?"

At Sam's words, the old man looked to everyone around him as he got up.

"Oh how rude of me! I'm Professor Elvin Gadd! Founder of Gadd Science Incorporated!" the old man, now Elvin Gadd, said as he looked around the room. "This mansion...I swear more and more ghosts appear everyday..."

Sonic could only whistle as he spoke, "Man, what we've all seen here, I would have figured that you'd quit by now, old man."

Those words got a reaction from E. Gadd as he looked to the blue hedgehog.

"Quit? Of course not! Paranormal research is my greatest hobby! Still, this is cause for concern...never before in my career have I seen this much spiritual activity..." the old man said as he looked to the group, turned curious at their appearance. "So what brings you boys here anyway?"

Before the guys could answer, a lot more ghosts identical to the first one appeared. Naturally, Luigi was the first to react at the sight.

"AAAH! More ghosts!"

"Uh oh! This looks messy! Quick, follow me posthaste!" E. Gadd shouted as he quickly headed towards the door and out the room.

"Hey, I'm not going to argue with the old man here, guys! Let's move it to it, everyone!" Sonic said following the old professor out the door.

"Hey, I'm not going to run after one of the little bastards have...!" was all that Knuckles could say before he was hit on the head by Clay.

"Forget it, Knucklehead! We're leaving!" was all the young plumber said as he dragged the echidna out as the others follow.


	3. Preparing for a Long Night

**A/N:** Now here's a new chapter for this story, guys. I know really shocking that I was able to update like I am. Well, would have done so sooner if not for a couple of things that got in my way in life. Anyways, as I've mentioned before in the first chapter, most of the characters mentioned do not belong to me and the two OCs _Clayton Mario_ and _Sam Baker_ belong to **NUTCASE1733** and _Miguel Arias_ belongs to me. Thank you and enjoy!

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><p>Moments later, the group fled to a small building just off the mansion grounds. Inside was what appeared to be an underground lab. Advanced equipment can be seen as far as the eye could see. Of course, it was not the time to admire the scenery.<p>

"Well...that was certainly...fun wasn't it?" E. Gadd said while finally managing to catch his breath.

"Th-Thanks for the help, sir!" Tails said right as the old man smiled to his direction.

"Think nothing of it, sonny. Now what were you kids doing there?"

"Our friend Luigi and his brothers won this mansion in a contest," Sam answered while shaking his head with a sigh. "But the more we think about it, it's clearly some kind of sick joke."

Those words clearly got the old scientist's attention just as he spoke.

"Boys, let me tell you right now that that mansion's nothing more than an illusion. It popped up outside just a few days ago! The spirits tricked you!" E. Gadd then looked at Luigi and Clay before speaking again. "Now that I look at you two, you look a tad familiar. I remember seeing a portly chap wearing red go in the mansion and never came back out."

"Th-That was Mario!" Luigi said while surprised at the news. "Professor, that was our big brother Mario!"

"I got a feeling whatever's in that house has taken him hostage," Clay said feeling as worried as his older brother about the situation.

"Oh no! He won't last long without help!" said as he took a moment to think on the situation before speaking again. "I'll tell you what, kids; I'll teach you how to fight them so you can save Mario, ok?"

"Really? That would really be good given what we've just seen, sir!" Miguel said. "Even with the magic that I've learned recently, I'm still a rookie in that sorta thing. Especially fighting ghosts and demons."

"How can you fight ghosts exactly?" Tails asked with a curious expression.

"Right, we would gladly take anything we get, man," Sonic nodded looking curiously to the old man.

"Hehehehe, I'm glad you asked!" said while holding up his vacuum-like device. "As a researcher of the paranormal I was able to find a way to keep ghosts from phasing through objects. I simply applied a special coating on the inside of this old-fashioned vacuum cleaner. From there it's all a matter of aiming and sucking up ghosts! I call it the Poltergust 3000!"

"...It still looks like a cheesy vacuum," Knuckles spoke while looking to the device with a bland look.

"Hold on Knuckles. What Elvin-" was what Sam said before the old professor cut in.

"Please, feel free to call me E. Gadd."

The four eyed young man could only sweatdrop before he continued, "Ok, what E. Gadd here is saying is that the vacuum bag, or at least the actual chamber here, is specially lined to keep ghosts from escaping. Seems perfectly plausible to me."

The blue hedgehog could only shrug at the words, "Sounds like a lot of hard work for him to do, Sammy."

"But it also sounds like something that the Ghostbusters themselves would make, Blue," the young man said while looking to E. Gadd. "Just how is it that you trap ghosts anyways, sir?"

"Well, the vacuum operates on the principal that ghosts are basically vaporous beings. Vapor means gas or some form of matter that floats in the air, or is air. Take away the air, you take away the ghost."

The two tailed fox looked amazed at the concept as he spoke, "Wow, that actually IS very plausible!"

"Yeah, and even Knux could be able to understand all that..." Sonic said with a chuckle.

"Grr! Watch it, hedgehog!" the red echidna growled in annoyance to the Blue Blur.

"Anyways, it's very good that you've come up with something like that, sir. But what do you do with the captured ghosts afterwards?" Miguel asked to E. Gadd curiously. "I mean, even that device has got to have its limits."

Luigi nodded just as he spoke, "Yeah the Ghostbusters back home in New York may have used far fancier gadgets, their main weapons being portable nuclear accelerators, but even those things had a limit on them."

"Yeah I've done some research on fan sites back home and it seems anything up to a Class 10 specter could be trapped by the Ghostbusters equipment. Even then there's a number of other limits as well," Sam said while thinking a bit on what was said. "Gods and demigods and most demons are unable to be trapped. There's also a size matter as well. Some things, like zombies and other undead things aren't affected at all."

"...Uh, yeah, like they both said," Knuckles said a bit dumbfounded on the information he heard.

"Well, you are right that this method has its limits. This is meant to catch ghosts, not zombies or demigods. Ghosts by definition are vaporous manifestations of a living being, or just a bundle of psychic energy given its own consciousness, whether intelligent or not," the old scientist said while patting his invention. "Still this method has worked well for me for about 20 years now. Anyway I can tell you stories later. It's time you kids underwent your training!"

The old professor turned towards a door as he spoke again, "That will lead you all to my training room. I have met a few nice ghosts over the years who are kind enough to assist in these exercises."

"Man, now that's something that we could definitely use, doc," Sonic said while looking to the door.

"Well, I don't know...I'm not particular good with vacuums," Miguel said with a bit of reluctance. "Especially specially enhanced ones. I'm mostly good with magic."

"No problem, sonny! A little magic can help with the ghosts too! You'll see. Now, go on in," E. Gadd said as the group headed inside the room.

In the training room, a TV monitor switches on and E. Gadd is seen at a control panel on screen as he spoke, "Can you all hear me?"

"Yeah we can!" Tails responded right as the old professor started his lecture.

"Alright, good! Now this is very important to know; most ghosts due to their lack of a physical form cannot be harmed by conventional means. Though theoretically one could catch one unawares, it's more likely a simple punch or kick will just leave you open to attack as well. That's why I created the Poltergust 3000; it's to give people the edge against the realm of the undead! It's the only thing a ghost will truly fear!"

"Man now that's sweet! Very sweet indeed!" Sonic said very excited at the concept and edge that they all have.

"Okay, now I get it!" the red echidna said thinking on what was said. "So we can use this vacuum to suck up any ghosts that mess with us as we move about. Sounds simple enough to me."

"Of course there's more to it but I'll explain as we go along," said while clearing his throat before continuing on. "First off, ghosts don't like the light. So stun them with something as simple as a flashlight beam and it'll stun 'em momentarily! Here comes the first ghost! Get 'im Luigi!"

At those words, an orange ghost like the ones from the mansion appeared. Luigi shone his flashlight on the ghost and it froze in place.

"It just stopped!" Tails said in surprised at what he just saw.

"Ha ha ha!" Luigi could only laugh as he turned on the Poltergust and works its' magic. The ghost, in an effort to showcase the desperation of a real capture sequence, fights the suction as much as he could. "W-WHOA!"

"Fight back, Luigi! Pull against it with all your might!" E. Gadd shouted towards the green clad plumber.

Luigi did as he was told as he fought against the orange specter's struggle. A moment later, the ghost was sucked into the vacuum. Knuckles was the first to speak his mind at what he just saw.

"Whoa! Now that's something!"

"I-I'll say, Knux," Miguel said while thinking a bit. "Hm...Perhaps my lightning spell would be of use given if we're ever ambushed by a group of those spooks."

"A good idea since lightning's root word is light. Besides lightning is electricity and it's what we use to make our own light! Good thinking there, sonny," the old scientist complimented to the young man before taking a moment to set up the next exercise. "Ok, next up is that some ghosts take more time to wear down to capture. And some ghosts will try to sneak up on ya to keep you from moving while another hits you head on. Some won't attack directly at all and like to place traps of some sort, however mundane. Finally, elemental spooks are something to really watch out for."

"Elementals?" Clay asked.

"Put simply, a ghost who uses a certain element to become immune to light," E. Gadd said right before he continued. "However, some other elements can wear away at their shield. A fire ghost is weak to water, a water ghost is weak to ice, and an ice ghost is weak to fire. All other ghosts can be weakened by the elements as well since many of them, fire and water especially, have purification properties."

"Heh. Good with me seeing that I could use fire fine with my spin attacks, man," Sonic said while showing off the gold bracelet on his wrist which bore a large ruby containing fire magic.

Knuckles nodded while showing off some sparks of green electricity, "Same with me given my own special abilities."

"I'm pretty good too, seeing that I not only have a lightning spell, but also have fire, water, and wind as well, and even some holy spells to use," Miguel said while sparking several sparks of magic energy from his hands.

"Splendid! Let's try a few more and call it quits for the time being," the professor exclaimed happily before typing in a few buttons from his station. "Here's a few elementals."

Just then, a ghost with a fireball burning in its chest flies at the group catching them off guard.

"This is a fire ghost guys, soak it, soak it!" Sam said while moving around a bit.

Clay nodded as he shouted, "Ok, we need some water here!"

"BLARHAHAHAHAHAHAR!" the Fire Ghost said as it body slams Sam, his hair catching fire as a result.

The four eyed young man could only respond by patting at his head quickly to put out the fire. Due to his cartoon powers, he is able to withstand the flames. But that does not mean that he does not feel the heat and pain coming from it.

"YEOW!" After putting out the fire, Sam started to glare at the ghost as he did an impression of Curly Howard, "Oh, a wise guy eh?"

The young teen, amazingly like magic, pulls out a fire extinguisher from out of his pocket and sprays the ghost, knocking it out.

"Hehehe, nice work! Now time to finish it up!" Clay said right as he catches the ghost in his Poltergust.

"Very good! An inventive use of everyday items, Sammy boy!" E. Gadd said from the monitors.

"Yeah. Given the way he's got toon powers, it's something of a godsend," Miguel said while patting Sam on the back.

"Yeah! Nice work, Sammy!" the Blue Blur said to Sam with a thumbs up to his direction.

"Now, I guess that about covers the core training. With this knowledge you'll excel in the mission you have," the old doctor said with a nod before speaking again. "Now come on out and meet me in the next room as I got something else to share with you all."

"This should be interesting..." the echidna mumbled as Sonic nudge him with a chuckle.

"Come on, Knux. I'm sure that what the doc's got for us, it could be helpful."

"Right, it must be pretty important as well," Sam said while polishing his glasses before following the rest of the group outside.

Moments later, the entire group are taken to what appears to be an art gallery. However everyone noticed the canvases were blank. Not even a speck of paint or ink was on them. There was a couple of angel statues on display but nothing else.

"Wow, not bad, professor!" Tails said as the young fox

"Heheheheh! You like, eh? This was something I put together many years ago. You see I built a machine that can turn ghosts into beautiful paintings, and I went around collecting them!" E. Gadd said in a proud tone. He then turned sober. "However I stumbled upon a sordid and tragic tale in the world of the occult. About a Victorian era family that lived in this very place many years ago. They were killed systematically by an evil spirit; a creature known as a Nightmare Demon."

Miguel could only shiver at the small mention of the word _Nightmare Demon_ as he spoke, "Ugh, now that's...something creepy."

"Got that right, man," Sonic said while turning to E. Gadd. "Sorry about that, sir. He's got a...sorta bad experience with things in terms of a _Nightmare Demon_. It's a long story."

"D-D-Do we need to know more?" the green clad plumber said to the professor while shivering and stuttering at the story going to be told.

"Yes, because this relates to your problem, boys." E. Gadd said while taking a moment to gather his thoughts before he continued. "After I heard about this specter I hunted it down, captured it and sealed it away in a painting. I also learned that after the family the demon had killed left this mortal coil, their belongings had been sold at auction around the globe. The spirits of these people remained tied to their once prized possesions and as such I had to travel around to get these ghosts as well. It took me a while but I did it."

This got Sam's attention as he asked, "What happened then? Why are there empty frames now?"

"Yeah, because this is a pretty crappy art museum, doc," Knuckles said as he looked at the empty picture frames.

"The last ghost I caught was one known as Boolossus," the old professor answered. "However, I had no idea it worked for an even stronger presence; one I believe Clay and Luigi may be acquainted with due to their reputation. Does the name King Boo ring any bells?"

That question got the two Mario bros to jump up in excitement and shock really quickly. Clay was the first to voice out his thoughts.

"King Boo! He's here!"

"M-m-mama Mia, no wonder Mario's disappeared..." Luigi said as he appeared to want to faint at any moment.

Knuckles could only look curiously at the two as he spoke, "Do you guys know who the hell that guy is or something?"

"Yeah, it sounds all new to me, Knux," Miguel said right as he turned to the two Mario bros. "Who's King Boo anyways?"

"New one on me as well," Sam said as he looked towards both Luigi and Clay for an answer.

Clay could only moan right as he answered, "King Boo is a ghost who works for Bowser, that should put things in perspective."

"Oh great..." Tails said as he remembered how much trouble Koopa was in the past.

Clay sighed as he continued, "Years ago Bowser managed to somehow secretly take over Peach's castle and used the castle's protective charms; the Power Stars to seal the servants and her majesty in the palace walls. Mario, Luigi, I, and even the Wario brothers weren't left out of the attack."

The case in question was one that'd always be remembered, largely because of how unexpected this attack by the Koopa Empire was. Bowser Koopa and his underlings infiltrated Peach's Castle, stealing magical talismans which protected the castle itself known as Power Stars, then used them to seal Peach and her servants within the castle walls. Bowser then took the stars and used Peach's painting collection to make realistic worlds out of them using the stars' power and hid the stars in each world, usually leaving at least one in the hands of one of his top soldiers.

Bowser had taken the Mario brothers and the Wario brothers hostage when Princess Peach invited them to a small party, and had some of his more dangerous cronies guard the rooms the two families were trapped inside. Among these figures was King Boo; an evil specter who despite the laughable name and comedic appearance was no joke. Being a ghost gave him immortality and his powers enabled him to be invisible whenever he chose. He could also spit eerie blue flames. Worst yet he was in charge of Bowser's legions of ghosts and the zombie-like Dry Bones koopa troopas.

"Man, now that's harsh, man," Sonic said in a sympathetic tone while turning to Luigi. "Just how did you guys deal with the situation anyways?"

"Well, first off it was Yoshi who managed to figure out something was wrong. Peach invited a number of the gang to her place for a friendly get-together when Bowser attacked. Yoshi apparently fell asleep somewhere beforehand so he was able to get out of it ok."

Clay nodded as he continued for his brother, "From there Yoshi saved us, and we in turn used each of our individual abilities to save the others who were imprisoned. Luigi was locked up by King Boo in particular, as he was targeted for his fear of ghosts."

"Ugh, now that sucks for Luigi, kid." Knuckles said while turning to Luigi in sympathy. "Sorry about that, man."

Clay continued on, "Ultimately, this is pretty much a revenge scheme. Mario was the one who beat King Boo to free Luigi."

"And now he wants Luigi and Clay as well..." Sam concluded, obviously knowing what was up given his info on the Mario games.

"Great, just what we need. A very vengeful ghost after two more Mario Bros," Miguel said while rubbing the temples of his head.

"Well, not if we have anything to say about it, kid!" the Blue Blur said while getting pumped up and ready for action.

"Yeah we owe a lot to Mario after all! Same with Clay and Luigi!" Tails said while feeling the same as Sonic in the situation.

E. Gadd nodded at the two Mobians as he spoke, "Just a word of caution boys; King Boo will likely be using the innocent family I captured before as servants."

"Yeah it's pretty common for evil spirits to use more mild-mannered spirits as a sort of army," Sam said worriedly.

"Well, when I get my hands on the creep, I'll be sure to give his face the ol' one two!" Knuckles said while waving his gloved fists. "Then have the Marios deal with the rest!"

Miguel could only sigh and chuckle at the echidna's words as he spoke, "That's if we could get pass the creep's defenses that he's using to block our way, Knux."

"Well, I think that about solves all our problems I think," the four eyed teen said while getting himself ready for what they're all about to face.

"One final thing..." E. Gadd said as he goes over to Luigi and handed him what appeared to be a Game Boy Color gaming console. "Take this."

"What the...?" Luigi questioned.

"A Game Boy?" Sam added just as equally confused. "What good are video games gonna be in a haunted house?"

"That's one of my best inventions! The Game Boy Horror!" the old professor answered while looking to the group. "Using parts of an old Gameboy, I made a communications terminal out of it! It also can keep track of things you collect and it has data on the ghosts that King Boo freed from my gallery. I was also in the mansion compiling a map when I met you boys, so you have a 3D map of the whole mansion."

"Hehehehehe. Sounds like something that my little buddy Tails would cook up," the Blue Blur said with a smile. "But it's sure to come in handy once we're all inside!"

"Yeah thanks, sir!" Tails said to E. Gadd.

"Now, you kids be off! Go save Mario before it's too late!"

With those words said, the group all headed outside and up towards the hill to once again face the supernatural horrors that await them inside the mansion.

As they approached the mansion, Luigi began to chicken out. "C-Can't you have Krunch help you out instead of me?"

Looking at Luigi with a glare, Clay said, "It is the middle of the night. If you are comfortable with going through Forever Forest on your own to tell Krunch to get over here to help us, go right ahead. The rest of us are gonna go in to look for Mario."

As Clay, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Sam, and Miguel went to the door, Luigi stood there looking between the mansion and the forest.

"Sometimes I wish mom and dad stopped at two kids..." With that said Luigi followed the others up the path to the mansion.


	4. Let The Ghost Busting Begin

**A/N:** Okay here's another chapter for you guys to enjoy. Yes, I know that it's been hard to get the action up and going but seriously, all good things come to those who wait. Well, anyways, it's a new record for me given that this is something worth waiting for. Especially with help from **NUTCASE1733** on his info of the Mario games. Anyways, this is also loaded with comedy for you guys to enjoy. Again, I don't own anything and the OC Clayton Mario belongs to my friend. I only own my own OC and that's that. Thank you and enjoy.

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><p>The group all made it back up to the mansion as lightning flashes furiously overhead the night skies. As they all entered, a wolf was heard howling in the distance. Needless to say, it unnerved some of the group.<p>

"Why must wolves howl right when one is about to enter a haunted mansion?" Miguel growled while looking around.

"Yeah, no arguing from me on that front, kid..." Knuckles added sharing his sentiments.

"Say what you want, that freaked me out. I sure hope there are no werewolves around," Clay said while shivering a bit. "Ghosts are one thing, but anything else is best left in the movies. I do not want to run into anything like werewolves, or worse, vampires."

Before anyone else could speak, Sam heard something that sounds like crying. "Be ready, guys. I think I hear something."

"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Everyone turned around as they shined their lights on the sound of the cry, and they saw a familiar face. Luigi was the first to voice out who it was.

"TOAD!"

The red-spotted toad person looked up smiled at seeing two members of the group, "LUIGI! CLAY! Am I glad to see you guys!"

"Man, you almost gave us a heart attack with that cry of yours, kid!" the red echidna said while trying to calm down a bit.

Sonic could only nod while at the same time looking to Toad, "I'll say, but here's the real brain teaser: What are you doing here?"

"Princess Peach was concerned about hearing that you guys won a mansion and that Mario vanished soon afterward..." the small toad person said right as he hesitated a bit before continuing. "...I saw him on the way to the store today and when I told Peach what the deal was, she thought it seemed weird you won this place without entering a contest."

"So did we," Sam spoke with a nod as Toad continued.

"Th-then when Mario vanished, she sent me here and I saw the place was full of ghosts...and I didn't see Mario anywhere..."

"That explains a few things," Miguel said with a nod before speaking again. "Well anyways, we're all here to help look for Mario."

This brought a relieved smile to Toad's face as he spoke, "Thanks for the help, guys. You have no idea how upset the princess will be if we don't find him! She'll flip!"

"Relax, we'll fix everything."

When hearing Sam speak, Toad turned to his direction with a curious expression as he asked, "Who's this guy?"

"Oh, I'm Sam, a friend of Miguel's," the four-eyed teen answered while shrugging it off. "Anyways, we'll get this straightened out."

"Hey guys! This thing's working!" Tails said as he was seen by a light switch as he turns on the lights in the foyer.

Needless to say, the entire foyer is not a frightening as it was before.

Luigi breaths a sigh of relief as he spoke up, "I feel a little better with the lights on..."

"This place is an illusion made by King Boo, right? How does it have light switches?" Clay asked curious about the subject in question.

"Well, a very strong spirit can make illusions that are as solid as actual matter. But this is still weird," Sam explained while he too was feeling flabbergasted at the situation.

The green clad plumber reached for the Gameboy Horror and contacted E. Gadd as he spoke while looking around at the mansion, "Hey professor, can you tell us about this place? Seems a bit real for a 24 karat fake..."

"Of course. This mansion may be a fake, but it is based off the original mansion the family I mentioned once lived in," the old professor responded with a nod. "It's a 100% perfect recreation, light fixtures and all."

"Whew! Whatever it is, this King Boo Boo Clown seems to have gotten the decor down to the last detail," the blue hedgehog said whistling at the sights.

"Got that right, blue," The red guardian of Angel Island added to his sentiments. "I guess he's really not going to make it easy for us to get to him, huh?"

"Well, that's sorta his plan from the get go, Knux," Miguel said while he looked around. "Anyways, I think we'd best get going with our search, guys."

"I tried the doors, all of them are locked except the double doors on the second floor," Toad said while he pointed out to the stairways the group used before.

"We know, we were in there when we met E. Gadd," Clay said while shivering at the memory of moments ago. "Nearly got killed, too."

"Well, it's time we got back in there and taught these little bastards who they're messing with," Sam said while at the same time arming his own Poltergust 3000 for battle.

At the room where the group first met Elvin Gadd, it was dark and cold. When the group entered, the air was very tense.

"Ok, here we are..." Tails said as he shivered at his surroundings.

Having enough of playing around, Clay shouted out throughout the room "Hey! We know you're watching! Give us back our brother RIGHT NOW or there's gonna be some real trouble!"

"Yeah! Come on out and put up your dukes unless that you're all too chicken to even face us in person!" Knuckles said while getting himself ready for a fight.

Miguel could only moan as he sensed a very cold presence, "Oh great..."

"Now we've asked for it!" Sonic said while turning to Knuckles with an annoyed glance. "Way to go, Knucklehead!"

Suddenly all of the paintings around the room shook violently. Needless to say that that everyone were jumpy when they all heard the portraits talking.

"So, you return?" a portrait of an old lady said with a cackle in her tone.

Then a painting of a young man spoke up in an eerie voice, "You should have stayed away..."

"What's the matter, not able to face us yourselves, so you're playing ventriloquist with a few paintings?" Sam said while finally having enough of the ghost games. "Get yer yella-bellied ectoplasmic carcasses out here this second! We're calling you out!"

"Fine then. The ones who like the dark shall deal with you," the first ghost answered with a sneer.

Another portrait, one of a man in his middle ages, then finished up by saying, "Like the little red cap before you..."

Just then, three orange ghosts appeared laughing as they advanced on the group. However they were more than ready to deal with them this time around.

"Not this time!" Clay says as he stunned all three with a flashlight beam, and quickly manages to get all three in one swoop. "AHAHAHAHA! That's what ya get!"

As soon as the young Mario brother got the three spooks, the lights all turned on by themselves. This gave the group a good sigh of relief.

"Judging from the way the lights suddenly turned on, I'd say we're all in the clear, guys," the Blue Blur said after getting his bearings.

"Whew! Well, I'd doubt that we'd seen the full extent of their powers, Blue," Miguel said while he too managed to calm down. "Or least King Boo-Boo given what had told us."

"Tell me about it. Let's move on though," Sam said while leading the way for the group.

"Yeah Mario's counting on us!" the small mushroom person cheered while trailing behind the four-eyed human teen with the others following.

The group headed into a room behind the parlor room. Looking at the Game Boy Horror, Luigi said, "This here's the Anter Room. Whatever that means..."

Looking at the room, which was very bare aside a few drawers and vases, Clay said, "Is there a point to this room? It's more like empty space in here."

"BLAHAHAHAHAH!"

Turning around they see a tall skinny, pink ghost headed at them at high speed. It then gained a quick burst of speed as it threw a punch as it flew by, and clocked Sonic in the face, knocking him across the room.

Sonic groaned a bit, saying, "OW! That really hurt!"

"Sonic, are you ok?" Tails asked his brother figure.

"I will be but watch out!"

Tails jumped as the ghost tried to attack him next. Thanks to Sonic, Tails dodged in time. While the ghost recovered, Luigi caught the specter without much hassle. After the lights turned back on the group found another key and went into the next room.

"Are you ok Sonic?" Sam asked the blue hedgehog.

"I think so," Sonic said, unsure. "That was real painful. These guys hit harder than the ghosts back home."

"Well, at least you're ok at any rate," Knuckles said, growling soon after. "When I get my hands on those freaks I'll-WHOA!" Knuckles had suddenly tripped on something. Looking down, he saw a banana peel in front of him. "What the-where'd that come from?"

Looking up, they saw several bulky green ghosts that were eating bananas who laughed goofily at Knuckles' predicament. They continued throwing banana peels on the floor.

"Some ghosts leave traps, however mundane..." Sam said, recanting Professor E. Gadd's lessons on busting ghosts. "With so many banana peels, this can be troublesome."

"I'll say." Clay said, then a banana peel landed on his face. After throwing it away, he said, "Can someone get rid of them so we can get the ghosts?"

"SONIC WIND!" Yelled the blue blur as he launched the razor-like whirlwind, blowing the peels back at the ghosts, surprising them a good deal. This left them open to Sam, Clay, and Luigi as they vacuumed the ghouls up. They soon got the lights back on and obtained another key leading someplace else in the mansion.

Checking the map, Luigi said, "That leads to the hallway just outside the parlor. There's some more rooms down that way."

"Ok, let's check 'em out. Mario's gotta be around somewhere," Tails said as he walked on.

As they drew near the locked door on the second floor of the foyer by the parlor, the Game Boy Horror beeped and Clay picked it up just in time for E. Gadd to appear on the screen.

"Boys, a moment please."

"Hey, what's up doc?" the Blue Blur said while looking to the device.

"Yeah, what is it, E. Gadd? Something that we should know?" Miguel asked while at curious about it as well.

"Yes, I'm picking up some of the escaped gallery ghosts somewhere in your vicinity! They're likely in the area beyond the door you're in front of!" the old professor explained. "Best be careful for these guys are a bit tricky. They like to remain hidden from view and as such you need to catch them off guard to come close to capturing them!"

Sam clearly a bit upset at the news right as he spoke, "Why are we catching these guys anyway? They've suffered enough."

"I want to capture them so I can release them into a new home someday," E. Gadd answered. "They deserve to have some form of life since they cannot move on to the afterlife where they belong."

Those words caused Knuckles to lower his head in shame as he spoke, "Man, way to kill my mood man...no pun intended."

The taller brown haired human teen could only sigh as he said with thought, "So now that we know of what we're facing, all we need to do is just catch them."

"Thanks professor, this helps a good deal," Tails said to the professor with a smile.

"Be careful, lads. Under King Boo's influence, they could be forced to attack," was all that E. Gadd could say before he signed off.

With that done, Luigi nervously reached for the key in his pocket and unlocked the door barring their way as he spoke, "O-Ok, on we g-go."

The group all found themselves entering a dark hallway. They would have thought that the section of the mansion would be like a regular hallway save for the ghost mice and lack of light.

"There's several doors here. Lets see if this one's unlo-" was all that Sam could say right as he touched a door knob, it swung back and slammed Sam against the wall.

The door, as it turned out, was a fake, rigged to hurt any who tried to open it. When the fake door shut itself back up, Sam was flattened as thin as paper before falling to the ground. One could have sworn that it was like a scene from a cartoon.

"Hahahahahaaaha! Oh man! Now that's something funny!" Knuckles laughed as Sam tried to pull himself back up.

"Oh I wouldn't say that if I were you, Knux," Miguel cautioned the red echidna.

"Yeah man, this ain't a cartoon! We could get seriously hurt you know!" Clay added while Sonic nodded in agreement.

"Well, toon powers or no, that really did hurt..." the four eyed youth said while moving his flat form a bit. "...King Boo's power apparently is a little more dangerous than I thought..."

"Look why don't we just get into one of the rooms and get it over with?" Sonic said while looking around more cautiously. "But let's be careful here."

"Yeah, no telling what might happen," Miguel nodded in agreement.

Clay then pulled out a drain snake from his pack and touched another door with it. However, nothing happened as a sign that it was safe.

"Ok, it's clear," the youngest Mario brother said as he opened the door, revealing an actual room. "Ok, guys, let's go in."

Right as Sam managed to get himself back into his regular form, he said with a wince, "Damn...that hurt."

"Here. This would help ya," Toad said as he hands Sam a mushroom.

Sam eats the mushroom and feels the healing effects just as he and the others go in. The room they entered was a small library with a desk and a rocking chair. The chair was rocking back and forth on it's own giving the group a suspicious look to it.

"Th-The ghost must be in that chair," Toad said with a bit of a fearful shiver.

"It's invisible though...how do we know when to catch it?" Tails asked while carefully looking at the rocking chair.

As if to answer the question, the chair glowed with a haunting glow around it. At that moment, the ghost, a male spook who appeared to have been 35 when he died, yawned audibly and became visible in that instant. This was when the group saw their chance.

"Oh yeah!" was all green clad plumber said right as he made his way to catch the ghost and managed to bag it moments later while with a smile. "Ah ha ha!"

"The professor wasn't kidding about having to find a possible vantage point here," Sam said.

"Got that right, Sammy," the blue hedgehog said with a chuckle. "If all the spooks here are as easy as this guy, it would be one short night."

The red echidna could only moan as he spoke, "Well, sucks for me given that I need something for me to vent on!"

"Uh, don't be so sure, guys," Miguel said with a nervous tone while looking around. "I mean, that seemed a bit too easy if you ask me."

"I know but all adventures start out that way. We'll just have to be more clever as we go along," Clay said with a nod.

The key they found after capturing the yawning ghost lead to the master bedroom. Going inside they saw a glow in a chair in front of a vanity mirror.

"I wonder who that is," Miguel pondered.

Luigi held up the Game Boy Horror, remembering that the professor installed a scanning feature akin to the PKE meters Egon Spengler developed for Ghostbusters. He saw a female ghost who looked quite beautiful.

"It's a woman," Luigi further checked the GB Horror and found the ghost's identity. "Says her name's Lydia. She's the wife of that first ghost we saw in the library. Says she died by starving herself to death as she sat in front of that mirror trying to make herself look prettier..."

Clay thought for a minute before saying, "The professor mentioned a nightmare demon killing this whole family...there's no way a woman would go that far like that."

"I dunno. I heard a group of friends starved themselves to death willingly by playing World of Warcraft too much," Sam said, recalling a news article he read.

"Ok, no way that's true," Sonic said, refusing to believe what Sam said.

"Well, it was an internet news article but you never know," Sam said as he looked to the ghost before them. "How do we get this one?"

"Well if she's as vain as the Horror states..." Miguel thought as he walked to the window. "Maybe a distraction could help," Miguel threw open the window letting the wind blow in. The ghost looked to the window, ignoring Miguel and got up.

"Oh what a dreadful draft!" The ghost, Lydia, said as she hovered to the window. She was immediately captured before she realized someone was in the room with her.

"Jeeze...she acted like she was in a trance..." Tails said, feeling a little scared out.

"Might be the nightmare demon's influence, considering," Sam lamented.

"Now I can't wait to hammer that thing if it ever shows its face around here," Knuckles said with a growl.

The group went back out into the hall to continue their adventure when they heard what sounded like a baby crying. The ghostly sound of it shook everyone to their core.

"Ok, that was freaky..." Tails said with a frightened shiver.

"Some people feel ghost babies are the worst kind of ghost," Sam explained as he listens carefully. "And the sound of that cry was certainly indication as to why..."

"Ugh, thanks for pointing that out, Sam," Knuckles muttered to the four eyed young man.

"Yeah, makes me think of my three nephews...only three times worse!" Miguel added as he shook at the thought.

"How's about we just go in there and snag him before something happens, alright?" Sonic suggested while trying to calm the group's nerves.

"I really dislike this part of the whole thing to be honest. Kids are kids, after all," Sam said with a sigh as he felt a bit reluctant.

Clay could only share in the four eyed teen's feelings as he said, "We have to catch the kid, unfortunately."

With Clay in the lead, the group followed him towards the door where the sound came from. They all found themselves in the nursery and see tons of baby toys all over the place. They see a ghost baby asleep in his crib.

"Poor kid...to die at this age?" Sam said while Miguel nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, really sad to look at, Sammy."

"Well, how's about we bag the little guy and then be on our way guys?" Knuckles said to get the two human teens. "I mean, no use dragging it out."

"Right..." Luigi said as he gets himself ready to aim and saw the baby no longer there on the crib. "Huh?"

"HI! Do you wanna play?" The baby, known as Chauncey, asked the group in a creepy babyish manner.

"GAH!" Sam exclaimed as jumped a bit before he staggers and falls over, kicking a ball into the baby's face, sending him across the room.

This of course did not go well with Chauncey as the baby ghost cried, "OWIE! You hit me! Why do you have to be bigger than me? Small! Now grow smaller! Gagagoogagee!"

"Oh what the hell's going on now!" Clay said right as he and the group noticed the room starting to spin.

Everyone blacks out briefly after the ghost baby's tantrum. When they all awaken, the group saw that they were in a giant crib. Tails was the first to recover and state where they all are.

"Uh...w-where are we? And what happened to the room?"

"Some weird electro-magnetic field is surrounding this whole area," Sam said as he and the other recovered before finally realizing where they all are. "And...we're inside the baby's crib?"

"Oh man, now this is going to be a pain!" Sonic said with a sweatdrop while looking around the creepy new surroundings.

Knuckles, however, was actually smiling as he shouted out pumping his fists, "Finally! I get to throw my fists at something other than air!"

Miguel could only look to Knuckles with a glare as he spoke, "Knux, how can you think of that at a time like this?"

"Sorry, but I'm sick and tired of just allowing those things to do what they want to us!"

Before an argument could break out, an ear-splitting wail was heard. When everyone turned to the source of the sound, Luigi was the first to shout out his response.

"GYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"HOLY CRAP!" Clay shouted out along with his older brother at the sight.

What the group saw was Chauncey, once a small baby ghost, now appeared to be forty feet tall. The infant spectre lets out five more loud wails, which sounded near demonic as he sent several rocking horses flying at the group.

"Everyone watch out!" the blue hedgehog shouted while dodging a few of the flying rocking horses. "Baby's got his toys out for us to play with!"

"More like THEY want to play with US!" Miguel exclaimed while dodging a few while running around.

"WAAH!" Tails ducked as he tried to keep from getting hit by the flying rocking horses. "Man, now what do we do!"

"PANIC!" Sam shouted right as he pointed at an oncoming barrage of toy balls, numbering at about fifty which began coming down like meteors.

This of course did not deter the red echidna as he got his fists ready, "Well, I'm ready for anything! Bring it on!"

With those words, Knuckles began to charge towards the volley of balls and started to punch each one by one in succession!

"Keep it up Knuckles, it's working!" the four eyed teen shouted to Knuckles while seeing him keep on punching more of the balls.

Toad looked to the huge ghost baby and then to the balls as he shouted to Knuckles, "Hey Knuckles, try sending one of the balls at the ghost!"

"You got it, Little Man!" the guardian shouted right as he punched a ball towards the giant ghost baby. "Take that, brat!"

Right as the ball hits him, Chauncey lets out a comical wail as the ball whacks him head on...literally. This also presented the two Mario brothers the opportunity needed.

"Luigi, let's go!" Clay shouted to his older brother as he ran up towards the huge baby and begins vacuuming him up.

"NO FAIR!" Chauncey shouted as he broke free from Clay's snare but was soon caught by Luigi's vacuum stream. "WAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The process kept going back and forth until Chauncey was finally caught by Luigi in the end. The spell placed on the team wore off and they reappeared in Chauncey's room. The lights were on and a large pink key with a heart-shaped handle appeared.

"Wow, what a key!" Luigi said as he picked up the said item.

"I got a feeling that it may lead us to the next area of the mansion!" Toad said as he too watched the Key with thought with Tails nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, I bet it will!"

It was then that the Gameboy Horror started to beep as E. Gadd's voice started to sound out, "Luigi, come in! Answer me! Anyone!"

"Whoa, doc! Nice of you to call!" Sonic said.

"Good timing too," Miguel said with a sigh of relief. "What's up, ?"

"Oh thank God! I lost contact with you boys and feared the worst!" the old professor said while at the same time sighing himself.

"We caught the third portrait ghost here," Sam said as he looked up the info on the Gameboy Horror. "According to the ghost list here, the he was called Chauncey."

"Oh well, that explains a few things," E. Gadd spoke. "Yeah Chauncey's a pretty scary toddler. He gave me one heck of a fight when I first captured him. It's a shame he was born a ghost. Unlike the rest of his family, he has no idea that mortal beings cannot safely play the games he wishes to play."

"Wait, he was born a ghost? How does that work?" Toad asked clearly shocked by what was said.

"The mother, Lydia was allegedly pregnant when she died. Chauncey died at the same time as you'd expect," E. Gadd explained.

"Man, talk about bad. I've seen worse before but this just tops it off," Sonic said with a shiver to his body.

"Y-Yeah, blue. No baby or mom deserves that..." was what Miguel said with a shiver right before managing to calm himself down. "Anyways, I think we'd better get going, guys."

"Yeah we could all use a breather," Clay said as he too had just started to calm down.

"We can't stop for too long. Mario still needs help after all," Luigi spoke up.

Everyone nods in agreement right as they all exited the room and head downstairs towards the exit of the mansion.


	5. Back to the Mansion: Ghostbuster Style!

**A/N:** Whew! Good streak going! I'm really cooking now! And with **NUTCASE**'s help this chapter would surely be good to read. Anyways, hope that all of you would enjoy.

Also, there would be characters from different anime's mentioned here so I'll tell you who they are after the chapter's done. Laters!

Everyone headed outside and going back towards 's lab where the old scientist was waiting for the group to return with their catches. Minutes later, the group is back inside E. Gadd's lab where they see a large machine seemingly made of random junk.

"Yo, doc! We're back and we've bagged a good haul too!" Sonic said with a smile.

"I think that it would be obvious given that he's contacted us a while ago, Blue," Knuckles muttered, clearly exhausted after all they had been through a while back.

"Guys enough. Now's not a time to be fighting like children," Miguel said not in the mood of hearing an argument.

Clay could only sigh while at the same time looking to the huge device in the lab, "What in the world is that thing?"

"Looks like a regular washing machine to me, Clay," the red echidna said looking at the huge piece of mechanical equipment.

"Somehow, I'd doubt that it would be the case, Knux," Miguel said sighing at Knuckles' words.

"Of course it isn't as it seems, sonny!" E. Gadd said as he goes towards the machine. "This is my grandest masterpiece; the Ghost Portrificationizer! It's this machine that turns the ghosts into paintings. Go ahead and put the nozzle in the slot, boys. It's best you learn how it works yourself."

With those words, Luigi and Clay both took turns pumping their catches into the front of the machine. The ghosts are then put into a washing machine where they are put through a spin cycle. They are then squeeze-pressed out onto a conveyor belt.

"The ghosts are invisible..." E. Gadd said as the ghosts are zapped, then steam-pressed. "...So we have to press them into visible forms..." the ghosts then went into a large machine at the end and came out as framed oil paintings. "And behold! Beautiful ghost portraits! So far only three of my gallery ghosts are back. Those other ghosts you captured seem to fade away in the wash."

"Man, perhaps that they're not very good once in the spin cycle." the blue hedgehog said as he thought of the concept. "Or perhaps it's the wrong detergent."

"I really doubt that's the case, Sonic," Sam said, sighing at the joke.

"Yeah, ghosts don't just vaporize in plain water..." Tails added.

"That doesn't make sense though," Clay said while thinking about the thought.

"Oh, of course! How could I forget?" the scientist exclaimed as he sounded like he realized something important. "These small ghosts must be creations of the ghost artist, Vincent Van Gore!"

Miguel could only look on blankly in confusion as he spoke, "...Uh, who?"

"Van Gore...I heard about him the last time I went to the museum in Mushroom

City," Luigi answered while thinking. "He was a highly unsuccessful artist because he could never sell a single painting."

"That's right, Luigi," E. Gadd said with a nod. "Van Gore toward the end of his life became incredibly bitter. He was a very skilled artist but no one bought any of his works."

"That's really sad," the young fox said with a sad tone.

"I know, and his bitterness holds over in his ghost form. He now has the ability to literally bring his creations to life!" the old scientist with a shiver and sigh at the memory. "I had a lot of trouble when I first fought him as he could-for lack of a better term-bring ghosts to life with a stroke of his brush."

"Man, and some people say that the pen is mightier than the sword...or rather in this case, Brush," Sonic said with a sigh.

"Considering his power it's likely we won't see Gore until the very end of this adventure," Sam said right as Clay added his own two cents.

"Meaning we won't be able to take out the whole ghost army very easily."

"Anyway we found this weird key in the baby ghost's room," Tails said as he held up the pink heart key that they've found moments ago.

"Hmmm, my my interesting. It contains a spell that looks like it'd break the seal on the door leading to the first floor hallway under the stairs in the foyer. Then it'll unlock the door itself," E. Gadd explained to the group. "Best go on kids; I'll radio you later with any future information."

"Good call, sir. If anything that I've learned from Zelgadis, it's that powerful seals would always tend to react towards certain areas that most creatures or sorcerers have sealed…" Miguel said in thought about the situation. "I guess in this case, ghosts are no exception to the rule."

"Well, now that that's all said and done, let's go back and get some more of those spooks!" Knuckles exclaimed getting ready as he and the group went out of the lab and back toward the mansion.

Back inside the mansion, the group got passed the sealed door and entered another dark hall. A great deal of spirit activity was going on, but it was more annoying than anything else as a few ghosts tried to play bowling with the heroes as the pins while some ghosts dropped from above and dropped bombs.

"Ugh! This is getting ridiculous. Where's the next damn key already?" Clay shouted in annoyance.

"Every door here seems to be locked...and others are fakes," Tails said while thinking about the situation. "The one we hadn't checked was at the end of the hall way down there."

"Well, let's go check that room out," Sam said while point to a direction.

The group now finds themselves in a small laundry room with an old-fashioned washing machine in the corner of the room. From the looks of things, it looked to be something from the early 1900s.

"Man, now this area really does look old fashioned. Just like the Doc mentioned," the blue hedgehog said while looking around.

"I'll say, blue," Miguel said while looking around the room and the items. "I once saw this sorta thing back at my grandparents' ranch at Mexico. Of course, even then they still had to rely on using their hands for the work."

"Heck, even I had a washing machine like this once. Or my parents did," the four eyed teen said to his friend. "That was back in like 1989-1990. We lived on a small farmhouse just off the main road in Glen Rose."

"Now to find that key," Luigi said as he and the others began their search.

Just then, a serpent-like ghost appeared right behind Tails and grabbed him. Needless to say that the two tailed fox was caught off guard and scared.

"WAH!"

Sonic saw what was happening and did not hesitate as he saw where the ghost was coming from and shouted, "Hold on little bud! Time for the ol Sonic Spin!"

Right as the Blue Blur spun and dashed, he actually managed to cut a bit of the ghost's tail just enough for the two-tailed fox to get free and fly away.

"You alright, little bud?" Sonic asked looking to his young friend.

"Y-Yeah, I think so!"

The youngest Mario brother quickly bagged the ghost and the lights turned on. He sighed as he spoke, "At least now we won't have another unexpected guest."

Luigi tried to open a nearby door, but it turned out to be locked, "So much for that."

Sam looked around the area and turned his attention towards the washing machine and checked inside. "HEY! Guys, look at this! Not only did I find a key, but I also found THIS!" Sam shouted right as he comes out of showing not only a key but holds up a familiar red hat.

"Th-That's Mario's hat!" Luigi said in surprise and relief.

"Now that's real fishy! I mean why would something like Mario's hat be in an old washer of all places?" Knuckles asked as confused as everyone else.

"Who knows, Knux? For all we know, some of the loony ghouls here have decided to wash it just for the hell of it," Miguel said with a sigh while shrugging at the thought.

"At least they did him a favor. I've noticed it was getting a little rank lately," Clay said while holding his nose at the memory.

"He'll be wanting this when we find him. Now let's see where this key goes," the four eyed teen said while putting away Mario's hat and moved toward the door with key in hand.

Moments later after much trial and error, they found where the key goes, and entered a room that was decorated in the style of a fortune teller.

Toad could only shiver as he said, "What a weird place."

"This room seems to be safer than the other rooms for some reason," Tails said while looking around the room.

"I would have to agree with Tails on that, guys. It doesn't give off the same creepy vibes as the other rooms," Sonic added with a sigh of relief.

The red echidna looked around the place suspiciously as he spoke, "And why does that make me feel uneasy about it all for some reason?"

It was then that a female voice with Transylvanian accent began to speak. "Calm yourself, guardian. I mean no harm."

Behind the crystal ball on the table, a woman ghost who wore gypsy clothes appeared. The aura about her did not feel hostile as the rest of the ghosts in the mansion. Even her voice is gentle yet mysterious as she spoke.

"I am Madam Clairvoya; seer of lost objects. If there is advice that you seek, do not hesitate to ask."

Luigi shook a little spooked as he stepped up and spoke, "W-Well, I'm Luigi Mario, this is my brother Clay, and these are our friends Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Miguel, Sam, and Toad."

"Can you tell us where we can find a chubby guy wearing overalls who goes by the name Mario?" Toad asked while a bit frightened.

"Mario? As in **Super Mario**? He's here in this mansion!" Clairvoya asked in surprise at the mention of Mario's name.

Sam stepped up as he summed it up, "Long story short, King Boo has him hostage and we need info to figure out where he is."

"Sadly, alone I cannot help you. If you have one of Mario's belongings, perha-" was all that Clairvoya as she sensed something while looking towards the group. "Wait, I feel you have something. His hat, perhaps?"

Miguel nodded as he responded, "Got that right, Miss. Sammy's the one who's found it along with the key to your room, Miss."

"Got that right, kid," Knuckles said while turning to Sam. "Show her, Sammy."

The four eyed teen nodded as he pulled out Mario's hat, "Here ya go."

Clairvoya reached out and touched the hat and then looks into the Crystal Ball with a deep intent look. Moments later, the female ghost looked to the group as she spoke.

"Hmmmm...Mario is alive. That much I can see."

"Oh thank GOD..." Luigi sighed at hearing that his brother's alright.

"However, I cannot get an accurate fix on his whereabouts. I do sense more of Mario's things are lost somewhere around the mansion. Seek them out and come back to me later. I'll do as much as I can," the dead fortune teller said before her tone turned a bit sad. "Sadly, being a ghost has somehow reduced my ability to divine the stars effectively so I do not know if the information I gave you is valid or not. But I strongly believe that Mario is alive and unharmed."

Sonic just shook his head as he gave Clairvoya a grateful smile, "Well, that's fine for us for now, Miss. Thanks anyways."

"Here. You will need this," Clairvoya said while holding up a key to the group. "The nearest room this works on is just around the corner. It will open the ballroom."

"Finally, now that's some of the greatest news that I've heard all day...er, night." the red echidna said while also correcting himself on the statement.

"Well, let us all get going, guys! The more of these spooks we catch, the better chance we have of defeating King Boo-Boo!" the blue hedgehog said ready and eager to go.

"And not to mention finding more of Mario's stuff to find out where he is, Blue," Miguel added with a nod.

"We'll have to really look out for his stuff then," Sam said while turning to the two Mario brothers with them, "What else would Mario have on hand?"

"The only things I can think of right now are his gloves and work boots," Clay said.

"He always carries a star man with him in case of emergencies," Luigi added.

"Well, then I think we'd best get going guys," Miguel said.

"Got that right! Let's do it to it and save Mario guys!" Sonic declared right as he and the others went out of the room and back into the halls.

Sam pockets the key and follows the others through the halls until they reached the door where the ballroom was. It was then he examined it and spoke, "Is this the right door?"

"The map says it is," Luigi answered showing the map of the Gameboy Horror.

"Ok, let me open us up," the four eyed teen said right as he unlocked the door and walked in with the others close behind.

The room despite being dark, didn't seem threatening especially with the kid's style music heard playing somewhere in the room.

Tails was the first to voice his opinion, "What the...?"

"Did we wander into a kid's sing-a-long class?" Toad wondered as he looked around their surroundings cautiously.

Suddenly a bunch of ghosts appeared. They wore different-colored robes, wore masks, and wielded double-pronged spears. Shy Guys, or rather, Ghost Guys, was what they were called. Though the masks they wore were the same as the Phantos enemies from Super Mario brothers 2. The spears were likewise wielded by an insect-winged relative of Shy Guys known as Beezos.

The Ghost Guys were dancing about playfully and surrounding the group with their routine.

"Oh I remember those little guys! Always gave me so much trouble in Super Mario World 2," Miguel said while thinking of the memories of his youth.

Sam could only shrug as he answered, "I find it pretty ironic how these ghosts are wearing Phantos masks and wielding the spears used by the winged Shy Guys known as Beezos."

"How so, Sam?" Tails asked as Sam continued.

"All three of those creatures first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 2 back in 1988."

"Phantos were real annoying. And Beezos were real dangerous due to the spears," Luigi added while carefully eying the said ghosts.

Two of the Shy Guy ghosts danced their way to the group, and one performed a spin with its spear outstretched, knocking Knuckles down. The ghosts began laughing, which only agitated the echidna.

"Oohh! You little shrimps are really asked for it!" Knuckles growled as he started to glow red all over his body.

"Uh, Knuckles, I don't think that it's such a..." was all that Miguel could nervously say before it was already too late.

Knuckles lashed out with the Maximum Heat Knuckles Attack to strike the ghosts with all his might. All he managed to hit were their masks, which shattered like pottery revealing nothing but a pair of glowing yellow eyes that hung suspended inside the hood of the ghost's robes.

"Well, guess that explains what Shy Guys look like without their masks," Sam said as he looked to the ghosts. "Somehow I doubt even this is what their supposed to look like..."

"Ok pal, you wanna fight!" One of the Ghost Guys said while he and his companions held up their spears ready for use.

"Oh good one, termite breath!" Clay said while preparing himself for a fight.

"Man, you said it, Clay!" Sonic said while holding his nose. "From what I could tell, even Eggman's breath would be more pleasant."

"Not what I meant! Move it!" Clay shouted right as he and everyone bolted away as the Ghost Guys try to run them through.

"Ok, we need to freeze them in place long enough to vacuum 'em! I doubt waving the flash light at high speed's gonna work very well!" Sam said while moving to avoid the Shy Guy ghosts.

"Freeze the guys, huh? No problem," the blue hedgehog said while looking to Miguel. "Hey, Miguel! Use that ice spell Lina taught you the other day!"

"Got it, Blue!" Miguel nodded right as he gathered blue icy magic in his hands as he shouted out. "Freeze Arrows!"

At those words, the young man fired what appears to be a barrage of sharp ice spears towards the ghosts. Needless to say, the Shy Guy Ghosts were caught off guard by the attack.

"Wh-Wha!" one of the Ghost Guys shouted as another one followed.

"LOOK OUT!"

The Ghost Guys were struck by the beams of cold energy, causing them to shiver from the cold despite the fact they weren't alive.

"Now Weegie!" Clay said to his older brother while getting his Poltergust ready.

"Right!"

Clay and Luigi quickly bagged the Ghost Guys, leaving none left. Of course something was not right as the lights were not yet on.

That brought Toad to ask, "Since we got rid of the ghosts, why aren't the lights on yet?"

Suddenly the kids' music within the room changed to a waltz. Two more ghosts, definitely human spirits, came out dancing in tune to the music.

"Definitely another gallery escapee," the fox boy said while looking to the ghostly figures. "Or escapees to be exact."

Sam looked at the Game Boy Horror as he spoke reading the information on it, "Says here they're known as the Floating Whirlindas. They were once the local waltz champions."

"Man, the way they're waltzing around us, it would seem as if we're not here at all," Knuckles said while looking at the scene.

"Uh, I don't think that's true, Knux," Miguel said while noticing the dancing ghost turning and looking to their direction.

"Seems we have an audience, dear," the male ghost, Mr. Whirlinda, said to his female dancing partner.

"It's been so long since we had one," Mrs. Whirlinda said looking to the group. "Please enjoy yourselves gentlemen, we won't do you any harm in the least unlike much of the rest of the ghosts in this bastardization of our old home."

Sonic could only sigh as he spoke, "Well...actually that's good to know, guys."

"What do you think, guys?" Knuckles asked looking to the rest of the group.

"Perhaps we can reach an agreement here?" Sam suggested.

"Whaddaya mean?" Toad asked to the four eyed teen.

"Let me," Tails said while looking to the two dancing ghosts. "Excuse me, I know you only wanna dance but we really need to return you to your painting."

"Oh must we?" Mrs. Whirlinda said with reluctance right as Clay spoke up.

"The ghost that freed you has our brother hostage. Professor E. Gadd was capturing you to give you a proper home once he got all of you in paintings. He was gonna free you from them and put you in the new home so you could live like nothing happened."

Mr. Whirlinda gave the young plumber's words thought right before he spoke, "Well, having a new home would be better than living in this cruel parody of our former home. Especially since our murderer roams free as well."

"Yeah we heard about that demon..." Luigi said with a shudder.

Sam nodded as he added, "Yeah, we're gonna bag that creep as soon as we can though."

"Fine then, you may send us back in," Mr. Whirlinda while he and his love prepared to be captured by the group.

A few moments later after the dancing ghosts' capture, the lights all turned on showing a very elegant ballroom.

"Man, now that really was easy," Knuckles said with a sigh. "But given the fact that the loving couple wanted to only dance in peace, who could blame them?"

"For once, you're right, Knux," Sonic agreed with the red guardian as he looked over to the rest of the group. "So shall we get going guys?"

"Yeah, what's the next sto...," was all that Miguel could say before he stopped and looked around as if he was listening to something. "Uh, did you guys hear that?"

"What is it?" the four eyed teen asked.

The group all heard piano music floating down from someplace else in the mansion.

"A piano? Here?" Knuckles asked, confused.

"Why not?" Sam replied. "Mansions are almost required to have one."

Luigi shuddered, and then said, "I really hope it ain't that possessed piano we ran into during the Power Star Crisis..."

Seeing the Mobians' expressions, Sam said, "In Super Mario 64 in the haunted house stage was a demonically possessed piano which would chase and try to eat Mario."

"Yeah, it scared the hell out of us. I mean, we were just walking by then suddenly the piano leapt at us slamming it's lid, the keys banging almost sounding like it was playing an off-key version of the theme to Psycho," Clay said as he remembered the terror he and his brothers faced that day along with Yoshi.

To that, Tails could say only one word. "YIKES..."

"I'm ever listening to music again," Knuckles said as he imagined the mad piano.

The group then heard something else much closer. The group saw a door at the end of the ballroom. "What's over there?" Toad asked.

"Says on the map that's a store room," Luigi said with a nod while looking at the map of the Gameboy Horror.

"Something tells me we should look into that store room. We might find a key or another clue about Mario's whereabouts," Tails said as he walked to the door in question.

Miguel reluctantly nodded before looking one more time at the direction where he heard the music and said, "Y-Yeah, guys. Let's go."

In the store room, the group managed to capture two more of the sneaky, serpent-like ghosts. When the lights turned back on, a treasure chest appeared. Clay was the one to voice out his opinion on the chest.

"What the...?"

"A treasure chest?" Toad said with a curious tone.

"I find it weird a treasure chest would just appear like this," Sam said while turning to the group. "Can anyone determine if it's a trap?"

"Hm..." Sonic thought to himself right as he looked to Knuckles before speaking. "Think that you could take a crack at this, man?"

"Well, given that I've seen weirder in my treasure hunting adventures, sure. Let me check it out," Knuckle said as he continued to look at the chest carefully. "Hmmm. Seems harmless enough to me. I sense no spook's power in it. Here we go."

Knuckles opened the chest slowly. When it opened all the way, he along with the guys saw what had to be a quarter million dollars worth of gold, silver, and jewels.

"CASH CITY!" Toad said with dollar signs over his eyes.

"Must be some of King Boo's money," Sam said while looking to the treasure.

"In that case, let's help ourselves!" Clay said with a smile.

"Hehehehe. Got that right, man!" the Blue Blur said with a smile before he looked at all the treasure now a bit confused. "Uh, how are we going to get all of that loot outta here exactly?"

"Let me handle that," Sam answered right as he slammed the chest shut and puts it in his pocket via a toon power called Hammerspace. "We should keep an eye out for more gold; it'll help us recover from the unpleasantness of this mission."

"Yeah and without money, King Boo can't really call himself a king!" the small toad person said with a smile on his face.

Luigi sees a button on the wall and spoke curiously, "Hey, what's this do?"

The green plumber then pushes the button. A floor panel opened up, revealing it to be some kind of safe. A creepy and cold mist flowed out of it.

"Uh, Luigi, I don't think that was a good idea..." Sam shuddered while looking at the shaft.

"Ugh...I know this chillin' feeling. Never a good thing," Knuckles said with a shiver.

"I think that I would have to agree with that, Knux," Miguel said while shivering out of control. "Really really not good."

Before anyone could react, hundreds of Boos suddenly flew out. Naturally Luigi reacted like he could know how right as he screamed.

"GYYAAAAAAAH!"

"Look out! King Boo's henchmen!" the young Mario Brother said while looking on at the scene.

"BLEHEHEHEHE! Well well. Lookie here, fellas! That scardey-cat Luigi's here along with that smart-mouthed brat, Clay! We're gonna do the same to you like we did your precious brother, only worse!" with that shout, a bluish-colored boo with blood red eyes wearing a red-jeweled crown appeared among the many Boos that flew about the room.

Sonic could only look at the said Boo blankly as he spoke up, "That thing's King Boo-Boo, guys? Looks like another ghost to me."

The ghost, known as King Boo, glared at Sonic as he spoke, "You'll pay for the insult, rat!"

"Hey boss, what's these weird things on the backs of these plumbers?" said one Boo who notices the devices on Clay, Luigi, and Sam's backs.

"Looks like a vacuum cleaner..." another Boo answered.

King Boo's eyes widen while looking to the said devices and shouted out, "It's Gadd's Poltergust 3000! SCRAM!"

With those words, he and all the other boos suddenly flee in terror scattering in all directions. This left the others in a stupor at the sight. Toad was struck dumb before he spoke.

"...Uh, what just happened?"

"Something that we all really don't need! That's what, man!" Knuckles said in both annoyance and fright.

"All those Boos! Man!" Miguel moaned as he tried to calm himself. "I can't believe that we're going to have to be dealing with all those little turds!"

"How many of them were there?" Sam asked as Tails answered the question.

"Right around fifty. Counting King Boo, 51."

Seconds later, the Gameboy Horror started to beep out loud and E. Gadd's face pops up on the device's screen as he spoke, "Boys! Boys, I just saw my sensors go wild! I recognized the frequency, it was them! Those Boos! They were the ones who kidnapped poor Mario and released my gallery ghosts!"

"Hey prof, it's good to hear from ya! We were certainly caught off guard here!" Toad said while at the same time feeling relieved.

"I gotta be honest, I knew those little bastards would show up eventually," the four eyed teen spoke with a moan.

"I know you guys are gonna want to go after them but don't go breaking a sweat; I had foreseen an event with that particular band of Boos for some time!" the old scientist said while pointing to the GB Horror. "As such I developed a secret feature on the Game Boy Horror called the Boo radar!"

"Well, that's good to know, Doc!" Sonic said while smiling at the notion. "Now we won't have to look too far given that those little sneaks could be anywhere around here."

"Got that right, Blue," Miguel nodded as he spoke. "I mean as far as I know, those little turds could try to trick us for when we get too close to them."

"Unfortunately, you are right..." E. Gadd said right as he continued. "I was never able to iron out a bug in the radar in which it's unable to properly distinguish a Boo from any other round object, like let's say a ball or more insidiously, a Bob-Omb."

Knuckles could only moan at those words, "Great, so what now?"

"The best thing you can do is go through every room you've been through so far and find all those Boos. They'll be hiding however since the lights are on in a few of the rooms already," E. Gadd said while explaining. "Sometimes their hiding place is more obvious, especially if you see a lump under a blanket or tablecloth."

Clay thought about it with a nod as he spoke, "And the radar can help us figure out the more cleverly-hidden Boos if we can't rely on our eyes alone."

"Ok, so what do we do?" Luigi asked a bit confused.

"Let's take care of the Boos. We're likely to run into some in the rooms we already cleaned," Sam said while arming his Poltergust. "It shouldn't take us long to flush them out. Let's get going."

With those words, the group of adventurers continued their way throughout the mansion halls.

Going back to the parlor, the boys look around for their first Boo.

"See anything?" Sam asked as he scanned the room.

"The Horror's got something," Luigi said as the light on the top flashed yellow rather quickly.

Sonic shushed the group and pointed to the table in the middle of the room. The table cloth had a noticeable bump implying something was under it.

"Hehe, I ALWAYS wanted to do this," Sonic crept to the table and pulled away the cloth very quickly. A Boo was seen on the table. It looked up briefly.

"Huh? UH OH..."

"GET 'IM!" Toad yelled. At that moment there was absolute chaos.

_**There's something strange in your neighborhood...who ya gonna call? **_

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

_**If there's something weird, and it don't look good...who ya gonna call? **_

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

The Boo evidently was more powerful than it let on as it levitated the items in the room ranging from chairs to the table it was hiding on and launched them at the group.

"GAHHH! LOOK OUT!" yelled Sam as he rolled away from the telekinetic attack.

Sonic glared at the ghost and said, "Just who do you think you are pal?"

"I am the terrifying Game Boo!" The Boo cackled as he dove at Luigi. The ghost zipped away before he got sucked into Luigi's Poltergust and chucked one of the paintings on the walls at him. Luigi was hit and got his head suck in the work of art, and as a result the painting made it look like he had became a woman.

"I HATE GHOSTS..." Luigi growled as he threw the painting away.

_**If you're seeing things running through your head...who can ya call?**_

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

_**An invisible man sleeping in your bed...who ya gonna call?**_

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

"THUNDER ARROW!" Knuckles roared, launching a bolt of lightning at Game Boo, stunning him long enough for Clay to get a hold of the ghost.

"I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" Clay hollered as he fought the Boo. Finally Game Boo was sucked into the vacuum. "Excellent work paisano!" Luigi cheered.

"Good thing no one actually owns this place..." Toad said as he looked at the wrecked room.

"We got a lot more of that and more to deal with guys, let's get this over with," Miguel said as he went into the Anter Room behind the parlor with the others.

_**Who you gonna call?**_

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

_**If you're all alone, pick up the phone, and call...**_

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

The Anter Room had very few things to be used as weapons so the Boo, who introduced himself as Turboo, could only try to escape. But the ghost was extremely swift. And what little items there were in the room were still dangerous and annoying.

"OW!" yelped Miguel as he was hit in the head with a vase. Casting a healing spell on himself, he got pretty mad. "You wanna play that way, ya little turd? FINE! Elmekia Lance!" Miguel fired a series of bolts made of holy energy, catching the ghost by surprise. So much so that his scream made the Boo sound like Homer Simpson. The Boo's state of shock left it open and he was struck hard, and KO'd.

Sam captured the Boo soon after, and said, "Excellent work Miguel. That creep didn't know what hit 'im!"

Miguel sighed and said, "Yeah but MAN was it annoying. And I thought that Antoine's hopeless attempts of romance with Sally were annoying…"

"Ouch, but I see your point," Sonic said as he looked to the door leading to the wardrobe room. "This next one may be trouble because of the dressers and mirrors."

_**I ain't afraid of no ghost!**_

Going into the Wardrobe Room, they nearly get crushed by a wardrobe placed in front of the door. "THAT was close!" Tails said as he was clutching his chest.

The next Boo appeared cackling evilly. "I am Booris! Be off with you!" With that said the Boo threw one of the mirrors at the team.

"INCOMING!" Sam yelled as the team scattered.

"I'm getting sick of this!" Sonic said as he launched a homing attack. The Boo vanished instead and Sonic crashed into the wall. "OW..."

_**I hear it likes the girls!**_

"SONIC! LOOK OUT!" Tails screamed, as Booris was about to drop another wardrobe on Sonic as he sat there dazed from his head-on collision with the wall.

"Huh?"

Booris chuckled, saying, "Time for you to join us!"

_**I ain't afraid of no ghost!**_

Clay said nothing as he pulled out a Fire Flower. As the traditional Mario power-up sound effect filled the air, his hat and shirt turned white as his overalls tuned light blue to show he had become Fire Clay. He then threw several blue fireballs at the Boo and his weapon, setting them on fire.

_**YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!**_

"FIRE FIRE FIIIIIIRRRE!" Booris screamed.

"Awesome hit, Clay!" Miguel shouted.

Sam smirked as he pulled out a fire extinguisher. "Someone called for a fireman?" Sam doused the flames on the Boo; the sudden shift between hot and cold left it vulnerable as Luigi bagged the sucker.

"HAHAHA! Oh yeah, that was great!" Knuckles said between laughs.

"Hey Sonic, you alright?" Toad asked.

"I am now, pal! Thanks for the cover, Clay." Sonic said as he rubbed his head.

"No prob."

_**Who ya gonna call?**_

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

_**If you have a dose of a freaky ghost, baby, you'd better call...**_

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

In the library, books were flying everywhere, some of which had begun flying about, screeching like a bat would. Clay had lost his fire power in the fight and everyone was struggling to fight off the thrown books and the Book Bats.

Luigi cringed, saying, "OW! I got a papercut!"

"We're gonna get a whole lot worse if we don't get this guy!" Sonic said as he tried to do what he could to block attacks.

_**Let me tell you somethin'...**_

The Boo, known as Boolderdash, scoffed. "You? Defeat ME? Don't make me laugh, fools!" The ghoul then threw a globe at the group.

"Nice try, buddy!" Knuckles replied as he punched the globe back, making the Boo squeak in surprise before he was hit by his own assault.

_**BUSTIN' MAKES ME FEEEEEEEEL GOOD!**_

After catching the Boo, the activity in the library ceased. "That was really rough..." Tails said as he took breaths.

"We still got two more rooms to scout out here before we head back to the ballroom and its storage closet, so shall we get going?"

_**DON'T GET CAUGHT ALONE, OH NO!**_

In the Master Bedroom, the Boo in this room, GameBoo Advance managed to possess Sam, and was using him to throw a ton of things from Hammerspace to try and whack the others.

"NOW WHAT?" Luigi whined in annoyance and exasperation.

"I got a trick to help him, but I dunno if this can flush out an evil spirit," Miguel said as he looked to Sam.

"Do it, kid!" Knuckles said as he punched away an axe.

"LAPIS SEED!" Miguel shouted as he fired a beam of magic which formed a magic rope to tie Sam up.

"WHAT GIVES?" The possessed Sam exclaimed.

"Do it kiddo!" Toad yelled to Miguel as the young man prepared another spell.

Miguel clenched his eyes shut and said, "If this hurts, I'm sorry Sammy! Elmekia Lance!" Miguel fired the spell at Sam, which did no harm but the holy power expelled the Boo.

GameBoo Advance shrieked as he was sucked up by Luigi. "Yeah another down! How's the kid?"

"Bozza wozza...bozza wozza shum? Wozza bozza wozza..." Sam mumbled with eyes wide open.

"Eh, just give him a minute or two," Sonic said nonchalantly. "Just get him out of the ropes."

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

_**When it comes through your door, unless you just want some more, you'd better call...**_

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

The three remaining Boos in Chauncey's room, the ballroom, and the ballroom's storage closet were each quickly taken care of. The adventurers were feeling especially confident right now.

"Ok, might have been a bit weird and freaky at times but this isn't so bad." Clay said as he adjusted his cap.

"Say what you want, I'm still worried about Sam after that one boo possessed him...that and Mario of course..." Luigi said as he looked at Sam.

"Oh come on, like I'm gonna start barfing up pea soup, Luigi..." Sam said in a grumpy tone.

"Now we can check out where that music's coming from!" Toad said excitedly.

Knuckles sighed, and then said, "I don't think it's good to be excited considering..."

"Especially the story of the Mad Piano..." Tails said timidly.

With that said, they left the last room they were in to continue the search for Mario.

_**Who ya gonna call?**_

_**GHOSTBUSTERS!**_

**A/N:**I hoped that all of you enjoyed that. Man, my friend **NUTCASE** really enjoys that song. Especially seeing that it's based off the theme song of _Ghostbusters_ written and performed by _Ray Parker Jr_. Man, got the love the 90s.

Now, the characters of Zelgadis Greywards and Lina Inverse of _The Slayers _are both made by _**Hajime Kanzaka**_. They are just mentioned to help with the plot of the story. That and I just got back into the Slayers anime. Thank you and hope to see good reviews.


	6. Merry Melody, Balls of Fire and Bulldogs

**A/N:** Man, am I going on good. Hopefully I could keep up this streak of updating with my fic. I especially worked hard on getting this one up considering. Good thing that **NUTCASE** was there to help to add a few more features on this fanfic. Especially with the ghosts and such.

* * *

><p>Again the OC of Clayton Mario does not belong to me but to <strong>NUTCASE<strong>. The rest belong to their respective owners and the only thing I do own is my own OC. Thank you and enjoy.

Forty-five minutes later, the group had just finished rounding up the last Boo for the moment. They had found the key to what was the Butler's room. The room was a modest place and a lot of cleaning items were seen strewn about neatly.

"The guy who works as the butler seems to enjoy his work," Sam remarked.

"You would be correct," answered a ghostly voice. Soon a tall ghost wearing a fine suit and spectacles appeared. He appeared to have been at least 70 when he died. "I am Shivers, the butler."

"Uh, hi sir," Miguel said nervously.

Tails took the moment to be diplomatic to the ghost as he spoke, "Excuse me sir, but we're in bit of a bind here..."

"It's about the chap who got himself abducted a while ago, isn't it?" Shivers asked.

"Yeah that's mine and Luigi's big brother Mario. Professor E. Gadd sent us here with Poltergusts to deal with King Boo and other hostile spooks," Clay said to appeal to the ghost's better nature.

Luigi was pretty nervous when he spoke, "Y-Yeah and we were wondering if...well…"

Knuckles sighed and said, "Oh let me! Listen sir, the professor caught you and your boss' family to give you your own place in effort to live on in some way, but King Boo threw a wrench into his plans and is now using you and your family to keep us from reaching Mario!"

The butler sighed, saying, "I'm aware of this...but despite being dead we are all powerless compared to King Boo. But since you have those devices I suppose you'll be fine." With that said Shivers reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. "Here, this will help you. Now to return to my frame."

After catching Shivers, and flushing out another Boo, they wandered down the hall again to find where this new key went. As they did, the piano music they had heard earlier grew louder. Needless to say, they were all captivated by the piano play.

"Whoa! That music! It's rather, well..." Sonic said while being soothed by the music as Knuckles added his two cents.

"Soothing, Blue. Really really soothing."

Miguel listened for a few moments before he spoke, "That's it! That's the same music that I've heard from before, guys!"

Luigi checked the map on the GB Horror and said, "Yeah. The key goes to the general area where the music's coming from alright. Must be a music hall or something..."

Sam opened the door and went in along with the others. "I thought so. Look guys, it's a music room. Seems a jazz band called this place home."

"Yeah the saxophones are enough of a clue there as well as the trumpets," Clay said while taking a look at the instruments. "Though I never expected a harp to be used in a jazz band."

"And the bongos are clearly a surprise to us as well, Clay. Now question is, where's our mystery Ghost?" Knuckles said confused about their surroundings.

"Wherever it is, Knux, it must have something to do with the rest of the instruments here," Sonic said while looking around the rest of the room.

Miguel was actually more focused on the piano chair than the rest of the instruments as he noticed a rather pinkish mysterious aura on it.

"Hm...I think Blue's right, guys. It's faint, but I could see some pinkish glow coming from the piano chair," he said while look at the rest of the instruments before turning back to the piano chair. "I think we're supposed to play these for the ghost, guys."

"Well...the only instrument I ever played was Tuba but hopefully I won't suck too much on something else," Sam said as he grabbed a trumpet. "The closest thing to a Tuba in this bunch."

"I'll take a saxophone then!" Clay said out going to his instrument of choice.

"I call the drums!" Toad called while going over to the drums while Knuckles goes over to a set of bongos.

The blue hedgehog could only look around as his eyes settled onto the harp. "Hm...Well, not much of a fan of the harp, but guess there's a first time for everything."

"Well, in one of your cartoon incarnations back in our world you were a guitarist," Sam stated while getting himself prepared. "Maybe you'll do well, who knows?"

"I guess that I'll just keep an eye on the piano to make sure that nothing happens, guys," the young man said while keeping his eyes on the piano.

"Suit yourself man, unless anyone else has any objections?" Sonic asked to everyone around the room.

Sam shook his head, "No prob, man. Do as you like."

"Uh, don't we need music?" Luigi said while taking his place at the xylophone.

"Here, perhaps this'll do. It'll help calm out nerves a bit and it might get on the ghost's good side," Sam said while thinking as he hands everyone sheet music.

"Good choice. Quite a lot of ghosts actually like this song!" Toad said while smiling getting ready.

Tails looks around right before he found a cello just as he spoke, "Hmm, guess I won't need the bow to play this at all. I can just strum the strings like a guitar."

"Ok, let's begin shall we?" the four eyed teen said as both he and Clay open up the song. It was a song most beloved in the Mushroom Kingdom. No known true name to the song has ever been given, but it's always been dubbed "Mario's Theme".

"Oh, yeah, let's groove!" Sonic cheered while playing the harp carefully.

"Hahahahah. For once I'm with Blue!" Knuckles spoke in an eager tone as he started banging the drums.

Miguel listened as the others played their instruments while keeping his sights on the piano as he noticed the pink aura getting stronger.

"Hehehehehe. Keep going guys. It's going great and..." was all that the young man said before he stopped speaking and blushes at the sight he never expected. "...Uh, whoa."

Right in front of Miguel's eyes is a lovely ghost woman who appeared in her mid-twenties, smiling happily. She wore a fancy purple dress and had blond hair. She appeared to be quite beautiful as well given that her features match her quite well as she spoke.

"Hehehehe! Such a wonderful performance!"

"GAH!" was what Luigi shouted as he stopped playing his instrument as soon as he saw the female ghost.

"Please don't be afraid. My name is Melody. In life I was hailed the master of the Ivory Keys. Sadly I died before I could launch my career... It's not all bad though," the ghost, Melody, spoke with a bit of sorrow before she perked up. "As the years went by I got to see how music evolved since my era and I've grown to love a number of the new genres and songs put out since then. But this is by far the liveliest song I've heard in a long time."

"Hehehehehehee. That's good to know, Miss. At least we know that you won't harm us," Sonic spoke while at the same time keeping the mood bright in the room.

Finishing with the bongos, Knuckles spoke up, "Got that right, given that I was in the mood to do the drums since we've got here."

Miguel could not help but blush at Melody's appearance while trying to fight back a blush, "R-Right, Knux. That's true. Good playing."

"I trust you know why we're here, right miss?" Sam asked getting to the point.

Melody could only nod at the four eyed boy's words as she spoke, "Yes, you're here to put me back in that painting from what I've heard from those moronic Boos...I'd prefer to be imprisoned than to be forced to do King Boo's bidding. Plus I feel sorry for the man they captured earlier."

"Yeah, we sorta figured that out Miss," Knuckles nodded. "We're all here to bring Mario back home as well as catch the creep responsible for this entire mess."

"Ahem! Y-Yeah, th-that's right, Knux," Miguel said to his red echidna as he composed himself and looked to Melody with sympathy. "In either case, Miss. I'm very sorry about what happened to you. But it's good to hear that you're handling it well."

"Thank you, young man. I really appreciate it," Melody responded with a hauntingly sweet smile on her face.

Clay could only nod as he got the Poltergust ready as he spoke, "Well, if you'd be so kind as to hop into one of our Poltergusts, we'll be on our way."

"Well...there's something I'd like to do first," the beautiful female ghost said while looking to the group.

"Oh? What's that, Miss?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, we'd really got to get going," the red echidna said while sounding rather impatient.

"Knux! Be polite to the pretty lady!" the young man said to his red friend with a glare while at the same time blushing at what he said and reacted.

Melody could only giggle as she floats near Miguel's direction, "You young man...you seem to be a bit nervous."

"Uh well..." the young man stuttered while trying to fight off a blush.

Sonic could only sigh while answering for him, "Sorry about that, Mel. Just that he's a bit nervous for when it comes to girls. I guess ghosts gals aren't an exception."

"Uh...right," Miguel stuttered while breathing to calm down the blush on his face. "S-So, what is that you want, Melody?"

"Well, there's something special about you," the female ghost said while leaning close to Miguel's face. "I just can't quite put my finger on it."

"Well, he is able to travel through other dimensions," Clay answered with a shrug.

"No, it's something else. That's quite extraordinary, but still not quite what I meant," Melody said while leaning more on Miguel's face, causing him to blush even more.

"Maybe it's because of all that Magic that you've picked up on him, Miss," Knuckles said with a shrug while not noticing the male teen's reaction.

"Uh...uh, y-yeah, Knux. No surprise actually," Miguel said as he managed calm down his blush but still pink on the face while still close to Melody's face.

"Yeah, that's it, Miguel. Keep telling yourself that," Sonic said with a smile that means he actually caught onto the scene much quicker than anyone would think.

"It isn't that either, but I won't worry about it for now," the female ghost said while moving away from Miguel's face while looking to the group. "Since you guys got a schedule ahead of you, I'll surrender myself."

"That's good enough, Miss. Thanks for being understanding," the blue hedgehog nodded while hiding his own smile.

"Uh, yeah, thanks, Melody," Miguel said as he cleared his throat finally able to calm down.

"Just don't forget about me, ok?" Melody said to the gang while seemingly winking to Miguel as she was sucked into Luigi's Poltergust.

"Well, that's another one down," Toad said.

"Well, the lights are on," Sam said while at the same time watching the light go on looking around the room. "Let's get what we came for and get outta here."

Moment after finding another key as well as capturing another Boo, the gang continues onward.

Sam looked at the map on the Game Boy Horror and said, "Ok, next stop the dining room."

"Lovely..." Luigi groaned as the thought sprung to mind. "I remember all the ghosts back home in New York loved to terrorize restaurant patrons...those places gave the Ghostbusters the most trouble..."

"Oh come on, this can't be THAT bad," Sonic said as he unlocked the door for the group and walked in.

Going into the dining room they saw a morbidly obese ghost stuffing his face with a mountain of food.

"YECH..." was all Knuckles could say about the specter's table manners.

Toad looked at the ghost and said, "How is that supposed to fit in any of the vacuums?"

"The more important question is who the heck is that?" Miguel practically screamed as he looked at the fat ghoul. "Watching this guy eat is like watching a train wreck..."

"Mr. Luggs...he was the family's pastor," Luigi said as he read the data on the Horror. His face then paled. "Says he died by stuffing his face so much, his stomach burst..."

"That's a horrible way to go. That nightmare demon responsible for all this needs to be stopped before this happens to anyone else," Sonic said as he got more and angrier about knowing how and why the family died.

Clay walked up to Luggs and attempted to catch the ghost but his vacuum had no effect. "HUH?"

"It didn't work?" Tails said, shocked and surprised.

"Must be another method of defense," Sam said matter-of-factly. "We need to provoke it somehow to make it vulnerable."

"Provoke it, huh? Well since I'm getting sick of these games I may as well do it!" Knuckles said as he walked to the table. "HEY! Fat, ugly and transparent! Listen up because we wanna be done with this stupid hunt!" The ghost ignored him and kept eating.

"Knuckles, I don't-" Sam said but was cut off as Knuckles kept pestering Mr. Luggs.

"HEY! DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME!" Finally getting fed up, Knuckles kicked the ghost's plate away. The food splattered onto a ghost waiter that floated in with more food. When he saw what had happened, the ghost panicked and fled.

"What was that about?" Miguel asked.

"HUH?" Mr. Luggs barked out in surprise. "M-my food..." The fat ghost looked at Knuckles angrily. "YOU FOOL!" The ghost unexpectedly blasted Knuckles with flames, blasting him across the room.

"OWWWWW! HELP! FIRE!"

Dodging a fiery blast himself, Miguel cast an ice spell to put out the flames on Knuckles and quickly healed any damage before they got shot at again. "YOU MORON!" Sam yelled, ducking just barely as flames shot over his head.

"This is getting out of hand!" Tails said as he did all he could to avoid being fried.

"Man! And my light speed attack would take too long to charge up even if I wore my Crystal Ring!" Sonic said as he zipped away from each burst of flame.

"NOW whaddawe do?" Luigi asked, panicked by this development.

Clay offered the best idea anyone could offer for this point, "Just keep dodging! Hopefully we'll see an opening!"

"HAAAAAALLLLLP!" Toad screamed as a fireball raced after him as he ran blindly ahead. He then tripped and crashed into a coat rack that broke in half, and by some freak chance the broken half flew threw the air and clobbered Mr. Luggs in the head. Despite being a ghost, the surprise action knocked him senseless as he collapsed onto the table.

Without thinking twice, Clay quickly began attacking Mr. Luggs. The ghost managed to break free, but flew into Sam's range as the young man began to suck the ghost up.

"THIS GUY'S REAL TOUGH!" Sam yelled as he struggled to keep hold.

"This makes me wish that we actually had the real Ghostbusters here!" Luigi said as he did what he could to back up Sam.

After a tough struggle they finally captured Luggs as the lights come back on.

"THANK GOD..." Sonic said as he took a breath. "Tails, you ok buddy?"

"I am now, Sonic. Man that was nuts!"

"How did that coat rack hit the guy if he's a ghost?" Knuckles asked.

Miguel thought about this then said, "The professor did say if you catch one off guard one could theoretically hit a ghost with some physical material, right?"

"We were lucky this time; we need to be more careful..." Sam said as he went onto the door to the kitchen.

The moment they stepped into the kitchen, it was like a war zone. Pots and pans began being thrown at them at high speed.

Luigi yelped as he ducked under a skillet that flew at him, but a pot fell on his head soon after and a tenderizing mallet hit the side of the pot, giving the plumber a splitting headache.

"YEEEEOOW!" Luigi screamed as he held his head to try and cut off the pain.

A white ghost who exhaled icy breath appeared cackling manically as it spat out icy mist, coating the ground in ice, causing the group to slip up.

"MAN I HATE THIS!" Sam screamed as he slipped and then collided with a cabinet causing all the china stored away inside to fall onto him.

Sonic growled, getting quite fed up. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!" Sonic threw on his Flame Ring and went into a spin. Flames enveloped his spinning body, defrosting the ice. The ghost looked at Sonic angrily and quickly attempted to freeze him solid, but Sonic shot off, hitting the ghost with a full-on Spin Dash. The flames that formed from Sonic's ring did even more damage to the icy spirit.

"Excellent job Sonic! I got him now!" Clay shouted as he caught the troublesome poltergeist. After the lights returned the kitchen was completely ruined but it was now safe as the supernatural element was removed.

"Ok, that was all very VERY absurd," Sam said while wiping his pants of extra smoke and ash, "It's one thing to expect a gluttonous ghost after seeing Ghostbusters and all, but a fire breathing glutton?"

Knuckles nodded in agreement as he spoke, "Got that right, Sammy! And then this whole kitchen nightmare!"

"Heh, well it just goes to show you just how unpredictable life can be sometimes, guys," Sonic shrugged with a chuckle.

"Easy for you to say!" Toad said with an indignant expression on his face. "You certainly got close to going postal on that ice ghost!"

"Hey, my friends were in trouble. I had to do what needed to be done. Isn't that what Mario would've done?"

"Y-Yeah, yeah, Blue. Whatever you say, man..." Miguel responded as he looked around, seemingly a bit distracted.

"Relax, at least it's over. Now we can go into the back yard," Tails said while looking to the back door while he and the others started to head outside.

"What would be out here anyway?" Clay asked a bit curious as well as cautious at their new surroundings.

"Probably nothing much except for the other ghosts lying around, Clay," Sonic answered while shrugging it off like nothing.

"Yeah, nothing but pots and dirt there, Blue," Miguel said with a spacey look on his face.

Miguel's distracted look did not go unnoticed however as Knuckles turned to him and asked, "Uh, Miguel? Can you hear us?"

"Yeah, Yeah, loud and clear, Knucklehead..." was all Miguel said right as he continued to look into space.

"Are you sure? You seem a little...I dunno...spaced out," the green clad plumber asked a little concerned with the young man's well being.

Before anyone else could say something to Miguel, they all heard him yelp out in pain while snapping out of his stupor. Looking down, they all saw a ghostly bulldog clamped onto Miguel's leg like he was a chew toy.

The young man could only wince in pain and clearly still spaced out as he screamed out loud, "YEOOOW! Angel! How many times have I told you not to go into my room and mess with my stuff?"

"Miguel, you idiot! You got a ghost dog on your leg! Snap out of it!" Sam shouted to his friend trying to get him to snap out of his dream like state.

"Hey, let go!" shouted the fox boy as he tried to pull on the ghost dog's tail to get him to let go but the animal wouldn't budge.

"It's no use, kid. Bulldogs are naturally stubborn," Toad said.

"Why not just throw the little guy a bone and have it chase it instead!" Knuckles suggested while at the same time trying to help Tails at getting the ghoulish dog off of Miguel's leg.

"Oh sure! If only we'd have some in tow that'll work, Knucklehead!" the male teen said in an annoyed tone while finally awaken from his dream-like state. "Now would someone help before my leg's ripped off?"

Sam then started to whistle and gets the dog's attention as he spoke while holding up a large bone, "Here boy, look!"

"ARF ARF! ARF ARF!" was all that the ghost dog, Spooky, barked as he lets go of Miguel's leg and walked away from him as he sat before Sam and begs cutely like any dog would.

"If I didn't know better, this guy was still a puppy when he died..." Clay said in a bit of a sympathetic tone.

"Ugh, that's for sure, man!" Miguel said as he cast a healing spell on his leg while sounding really mad later. "Oh...is King Turd really going to get it when I get my hands on him!"

Knuckles could only look to the young man's direction as he spoke up, "Miguel, just what is it with you, man?"

Just then the GB Horror started to beep and as soon as Luigi answered it, E. Gadd popped up on the screen just as he spoke up. "Hey kids, I got a fix on your location and I have some very vital info for you!"

"Well, what is it, Old man?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah, what's the skinny you've got for us, Doc? Something we should know?" Sonic added a bit curious himself.

The old scientist only nodded as he spoke again, "Yes, look over the nearby rock wall and tell me what you see."

At those words, the group looked over the said rock wall and found themselves looking at what appears to be a cemetery. Needless to say that it's not a very welcoming sight.

Luigi could only gulp as he spoke, "A g-graveyard...why?"

"I'm getting dangerously high paranormal readings there!" said through the GB Horror screen. "They're identical to the nightmare demon I fought years ago, the very one who was responsible for this good family's demise! Bogmire is his name. As a Nightmare Demon, he will try to play your fears against you!"

That got everyone's attention just as Knuckles spoke up, "W-Wait! You're saying that this, Nightmare Demon's in that very same Cemetery? Right now?"

"Yes, I am Knuckles! Do not take him lightly in the least; he is on the same scale as King Boo himself!" the old scientist explained. "He's only working with King Boo as a favor for releasing him. You need to capture him as quickly as possible before another rash of mysterious deaths ravage the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Hm...Well, given the situation, doc, I'd say it's doable!" Sonic said while cracking his fingers ready for a fight.

"Yeah. We have to be careful not matter what, Blue," Miguel said while having a very serious look on his face. "And...I've got one spell that would get that spook if worse come to worse."

"Do-d-do we have to?" Luigi asked in his typically frightened tone.

"Luigi, Bogmire likely has the key to unlock the next stretch of the mansion like that baby did!" Clay said to his older sibling. "We have to do this or else we'd let Mario and the princess down!"

"And believe me, Peach won't be happy to see you guys short one brother," Toad said with a nod and frightened look on his face.

"Got that right, little man," the red echidna said while looking to Luigi. "Now you'd better man up and get ready Luigi, seeing that we're all in this together!"

The taller plumber could only sigh in defeat seeing as he's done, "R-Right..."

"Hmmm. I'd hate to just pull the dog in without warning. He's happy with the bone I gave him," Sam said while looking to Spooky enjoying the bone given to him.

"I was able to appeal to Spooky's good side once before. Let me try again. Spooky! Here boy!" E. Gadd called to the ghost dog as it turned to the GB Horror and barked happily at the sight of seeing the old man again. "We need to put you away again for a bit, but don't worry, it won't be for long."

Spooky whined a bit at the prospect but, but lets out a bark as he waited for his capture.

"Okay, here ya go boy," Clay said right as he caught Spooky into his own Poltergust.

"Well, that's good. One problem solved..." Sonic said who looks to the cemetery.

"...and one other to go, Blue," Miguel finished with a shiver.

"Right, kid! Now that we're all done here, let's do it to it everyone!" Sonic said with a determined look on his face.

"Heheheheh. For once I'm not going to argue on that, Blue. Let's get going," Knuckles added pumping his fists ready to battle.

With those words, the group found the entrance to the graveyard and ready themselves for the greatest fight of their lives.

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><p><strong>AN:** Well, off to face Bogmire they go! Be ready for how the group get out of this one. Well, hope to have good reviews! Laters!


	7. Shadows of the Night

Phew! Man, three days and it's now here! Chapter seven everyone! Now it's going to get a bit emotional at the middle of it guys. But after that, it's action and comedy all the way...and a bit of horror.

Anyways, there's going to be more _Slayers_ anime references here everyone and I've already gave you the names of the creator. However, there's going to be a pokemon appearing here. The franchise is published by _Nintendo_ but however its created by _Satoshi Tajiri_ of **Game Freak**. Thank you and enjoy.

* * *

><p>Moments later after finding a secret warp within Spooky's doghouse, the gang found themselves within the cemetery. Needless to say, they have never ever been so freaked out in their entire lives.<p>

"M-Man...this is getting out of hand..." Tails said as his fur turned all puffy as each strand stood on end.

"I never liked going to graveyards, even in the daytime," Sam said while nervously looking around the graveyard. "There's always some kind of horror story accompanied by graveyards due to the likelihood of a weak barrier between the mortal plane and the spirit world. Some people have reported to hear voices, see shadowy apparitions, and a few people have actually fallen under demonic possession."

Miguel shivered a bit at those words, "Man, and I'd thought I've heard horror stories before, but this tops it off Sam."

"Got that right," Knuckles spoke with a shiver himself. "This really makes Pumpkin Hill look like a walk in a park."

"I'll say," Sonic said while looking to Clay. "Anything out of the ordinary besides the obvious, man?"

"Not yet," the young Mario brother said while looking around arming his Poltergust. "I wish we had some of the gear the Ghostbusters use though."

"I got a feeling that the PKE would self destruct, leaving a fifty-foot wide hole in the ground with all the paranormal activity we have seen just in the first few seconds we've been in this mansion," the four eyed teen said in an expert tone.

Knuckles could only stay silent at those words, "...thanks for the warning, Sam. That makes me feel a whole lot better."

"Still it would be nice to know WHERE Bogmire will appear," Tails said with another shiver.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck a tombstone just five feet from the group. And then, a seven foot tall dark purple apparition with yellow eyes suddenly shot up from the ground. It looked like a living shadow.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" was Luigi's only response to the sight.

"G-Guys...It's Bogmire!" Clay said while looking to the info on GB Horror.

"Wehehehehehe..."

With that menacing laugh, the area suddenly turned dark and suddenly the group all found themselves in a barren circular arena lined with gravestones. The same electromagnetic field that scrambled the GBH when the group fought Chauncey had also reappeared. However, storm clouds were also seen inside the field over the battlefield.

"Prepare to meet your doom..."

With those haunting words, Bogmire's shadow suddenly came alive and morphed into a copy of himself. More Bogmire shadow clones appeared soon after. Well, let's just say that the group found themselves outnumbered.

"Th-They got us s-s-surrounded!" Luigi shivered while looking around.

"This isn't cool dudes. I sure hope that you guys got a plan!" Toad said while moving behind some of the group.

"Not unless someone could use a flashlight or something on these guys, we're toast!" Knuckles responded while getting his fists ready.

Sam could only shake his head at the response, "I really doubt a simple flashlight trick's gonna deal with these things!"

"Yeah remember what the professor said? Some ghosts have a more subtle weakness than others!" Tails said while feeling more frightened than before.

"Hm...Well, there is something I could do," Miguel thought while gathering magic in his hands as he turned to Sonic. "Sonic, this needs time to prepare! Do your Light Speed attack and hurry!"

"Hehehehehe. I'd thought you'd never ask!" Sonic said right as he started to spin around while gathering light into his body.

Clay tried to suck up one of the clones, but it breaks apart as soon as he was close to being sucked in, "Ok, so much for that."

"Hey, back off jerk!" Toad shouted as he kicked a clone, and actually landed a hit. "Hey, it seems these guys are kinda solid!"

Now that brought a devious smile on the red echidna's face. "Oh, really? Hehehehehehehe. Oh goodie! That means I get to do...THIS!" was all Knuckles could say before threw a fist at one of the Shadow Clones.

The clone in question bursts apart like a balloon. This of course got the whole group to start charging in with their own attacks.

"Ok, here I come!" Tails said right as he performed a few tail spin attacks, cutting a few clones to ribbons with his successive spins.

Toad does his best to duck under an enemy attack. Needless to say, the little man was not very pleased when it almost hit him. "Whoa! OH so you wanna play rough huh? How 'bout a nose job, pal?" the little man said right as he head butted the clone where the nose would be if it had one, which totally destroyed the clone. "Yeah! That's what ya get!"

"Guys, we can't keep fighting these clones, we gotta go after the headman!" Sam shouted as he moves out of the way of a shadow clone.

"Which is why I'm getting ready, Sammy!" Miguel shouted as he gathered magic energies into his hands while turning to Sonic. "Sonic...NOW!"

"Hehehehe. Got it, kid!" Sonic nodded after he finished spinning and aimed himself towards the nearest clone. "Ready...GO!"

Sonic plowed right through all the clones at light speed and then homes in on Bogmire himself and delivered ten lightning fast hits on him.

"GAH! Fools! You will not undo me!" Bogmire shouted as he started to once again try to attack.

Knuckles could only smile at Bogmire as he spoke up, "Oh it's not just us you should be worrying about, pal."

"Got that right, Knucklehead," Sonic said right as he turned to Miguel. "He's all yours, kid!"

"Right, guys!" was the young man's response right as he began to recite his spell while gathering bright blue magic. "_Oh source of all souls which dwell in the eternal and infinite! Ever lasting flame of blue! Let the power hidden within my soul be called forth here and now! RA-TILT!_"

Right at those words, Miguel fired a blast of flaming blue energy right at Bogmire. It was strong but not enough to destroy the shadow ghoul completely. Especially seeing it was barely able to stand from the attack.

"GUH...Yo-You will...pay...boy..." Bogmire snarled with a glare at Miguel's direction.

"Ok, stand down everyone!" Sam ordered everyone in the group as he wore a very serious expression on his face. "It's time I took care of this. I've just about had it with this guy's mouth!"

"Fine with...me Sammy," Miguel said in exhaustion while trying to catch his breath and get on his feet.

"Heheheheh. Oh this should be good," the blue hedgehog said while he moved out of the way to see what the toony teen has in mind.

Sam could only reach into his pocket and searched a moment before he found what he was looking for. What the four eyed teen pulled out of his pocket was a red and white ball. This item in particular surprised and shocked Miguel quite a bit as he recognized it.

"S-Sammy! Th-That's...!"

"What the hell is that thing?" Knuckles asked a bit clueless as to what the item is.

"Clay, is that-?" Luigi asked Clay in shock.

"That certainly does look like it, bro!" Clay answered just as shocked about the item as his older brother.

As soon as Sam got the ball out, he threw out the item and shouted, "Go Mightyena!"

A large black and gray wolf with yellow eyes and red irises appeared from the Pokeball. Mightyena let out a howl as he entered the battle, the act causing his body to glow slightly red before fading away, thus raising its attack power.

"Wh-Whoa! What the heck is that?" Sonic said amazed at the sight.

"What is that?" Tails asked while looking at the dog-like creature. "It may be a dog but it seems a little different for some reason..."

"I'll explain AFTER we beat this creep," Sam said while turning to the creepy ghoul.

"You will never get the chance!" was all Bogmire shouted right as he flew at Sam to attack again.

Of course the attack did not hit as Mightyena snarled angrily and leapt at Bogmire, knocking him out of the air as he bites the ghoul savagely using Crunch. Needless to say it was really effective against the shadowy ghost.

"Wh-Whoa! Now that's some power!" Miguel exclaimed looking to the scene.

"How is that dog hurting Bogmire?" the red echidna asked while still watching the scene.

"Mightyena's kind are natural born enemies of ghosts! Mightyena's specialty is biting opponents and its bite deals heavy damage to things like Bogmire!" Sam said as he started getting into the battle. "Mightyena are also masters of fear in their own right. Anything they encounter in battle gets a scare so bad they lose attack strength."

"That's one terrifying wolf! Glad it's on our side," Toad said while quaking a bit in his little boots.

"Y-Y-You and me both..." Luigi replied while at the same time shivering at the scene.

Knocking the huge Mightyena away, Bogmire could only glare at the beast. "Worthless cur!" the ghost shouted as he fired a burst of dark spirit power at Mightyena. The attack in question, however, did nothing as it.

"WHAT?"

"Mightyena, show Boggy some real power. Shadow Ball!" Sam ordered to his creature.

Mightyena formed a dark orb of spiritual energy and fired it at the ghoul. The Shadow Ball rocketed toward Bogmire and struck him...HARD. The resulting explosion sent the demon flying towards the gated fence.

Sam could only smile at his wolf companion's work right as he spoke, "Ok, great job! Clay, get in there now!"

"Your reign of terror is over creep!" Clay shouted right as he ran up to the ghoul and began to suck up Bogmire into his Poltergust.

Bogmire struggled to get away by crawling at the ground just as he spoke, "Y-You won't beat me...!"

The dark ghost was about to get up when Mightyena got close, face-to-face. Mightyena's own special ability, Intimidate, was working overtime as he growled viciously with his sharp teeth bared. His yellow and red eyes enhanced the amount of terror he presented. Bogmire was too stunned to move and was captured without hassle from that point onward.

"Great job, Mightyena, you did great!" Sam said while petting his pokemon friend for his job.

The said Mightyena only barked happily, showing a complete turnaround in behavior.

Sonic could only chuckle as he goes over to the four eyed young man and gave him a thumbs up, "Way to go and show him whose boss, Sammy!"

"Don't forget that Miguel's done his fair share in the fighting too, Blue. He deserves some of the credit too," Knuckles said as he shrugged towards Miguel's direction.

"I-It's alright, Knux. I-I'm cool with it," Miguel said while getting himself off the floor despite feeling a bit drained. "Anyways, Sammy's Mightyena did the job of finishing the creep off."

"You guys are talking about that and not noticing the disturbing change in personality in that thing?" Toad said while being a bit cautious of the wolf like pokemon.

"Yeah before it was like it was infected with rabies and now it's no different than that bulldog from before," Luigi cracked but was careful with his words so as to not anger the dog more.

"Yeah, well, Pokemon are like that, guys," Miguel said while finally able to get to his feet and caught his breath.

The area around the group then suddenly to magically turn back into the graveyard which, while still creepy, was no longer as forbidding and creepy as before.

"Whew! Man, it actually feels nicer here now," the small toad person said sighing in relief at seeing the graveyard now peaceful.

"That's a real surprise," the green clad plumber said looking around the place while still a bit cautious.

It was then that E. Gadd's face popped up on the GB Horror and spoke getting everyone's attention, "Hey boys, I lost contact again. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, we caught Bogmire. He's cooling his heels in the vac," Sam said while pointing at the Clay's Poltergust.

"Excellent! Without Bogmire, it's highly likely things will be MUCH easier!" the old professor said with a chipper tone. "It'll be tougher for the other gallery ghosts to remain under King Boo's influence now! Come back to the lab so we can make more paintings."

"Right. I could use a breather after all that crap that shadow ghoul put us through," Knuckles nodded while sighing a bit in exhaustion.

"Yeah! Let's get going and get that creep back to where he belongs!" Miguel said with a much more chipper tone.

Same nodded while petting his pokemon companion, "Thanks a lot for the help Mightyena. You'll be getting something special later."

"ARF!" Mightyena barked right as it was sent back into its pokeball by Sam.

Moments later, everyone soon found themselves back at the lab. After putting the ghosts back in their frames, the group took this time to sit and relax.

"I think just having Bogmire out like this is just asking for trouble," Clay said while he looked to the painting of the said shadow ghoul.

"Trust me for I'm more than agreeing with you on that statement, Clay," Knuckles said with a smug look at Bogmire's painting.

"Well, given the fact that the Doc's been able to take the creep out before, he must've been extra careful with it," Sonic nodded while looking at the picture that contained Spooky.

"Yeah, yeah, Blue. Great," Miguel spoke while looking at the picture of Melody with longing and admiration.

Sam noticed the look of longing on his friend's face as he spoke, "Miguel, is there something you want to tell us?"

"H-Huh? What's that, Sammy?" Miguel responded to his four eyed companion, snapping out of his dream filled stupor.

Knuckles could only sighed at the young teen's reaction as he muttered, "There he goes again..."

"Miguel, do you have a thing for the ghost gal in the painting?" Sonic said with a brotherly and playful smirk.

The young teen could only blush in surprise as he spoke up, "S-Sonic! I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

Sonic's joking manner however seemed to irk Sam. "Sonic, can you not tease Miguel about this?" Sam said in a serious tone. "I mean really, I know you like to joke around, but poking fun at people over a matter like this isn't cool."

"Sorry, Sammy! I didn't mean to make it sound bad. I'm actually kinda glad for Miguel actually," the blue hedgehog said while raising his hands up.

"Heh, we actually have the same opinion for once, Blue," Knuckles said while just shrugging it off. "Anyways, the three of us have known that Miguel's shy towards women so we were a bit concerned about him."

"Still no excuse to tease him about it," Sam said with a frown right as he left the gallery.

"What's his problem?" Toad asked a bit confused.

"Apparently you guys struck a nerve," Clay answered with a sigh.

"It's because Sammy's got more issues with the girls than I do, guys," the teen said with a sigh. "Sonic's jabbings are nothing new to me seeing that I'm used to it, but with Sammy, it's sorta personal."

"Oh man...Why didn't he say anything?" the blue blur said while feeling down. "I would've been more careful with my mouth."

"Maybe because he's not a mind reader, idiot," Clay said in annoyance.

"Still, I do kinda see Sam's point though..." Tails added with a sigh. "Miguel's had it tough lately."

"What's going on anyway? We're a bit lost," Luigi asked a bit confused as Toad.

"Yeah, what's going on?"

Miguel could only sigh as he began to speak, "Well...it's just that lately at high school, I keep seeing more couples growing closer to one another. Not a single girl would come to near or flirt with me. Heck, and when I tried to talk with a girl, I choke like a chicken! Not to mention that I tend to wait too long for when I do get my eye on certain girls I find out that they're already taken."

"That is why we're here, guys. We figured that along with Sammy, Miguel would feel a bit better about the whole thing. It was mostly Sonic's idea," the red echidna added while looking to Sonic's direction.

"Yeah, figured that a day here would brighten up Miguel's day. Guess that was a failure..." Sonic said with a defeated sigh.

"Sorry we pried, Miguel...we just wanted to know what was wrong," Toad said looking to the young man with sympathy.

"Hey, don't worry about it, Toad. You guys didn't know," Miguel responded with a shrug after getting his mood back up. "And anyways, it was my fault that I didn't tell Sammy most of the times when Sonic's jabbings are welcome. You see, it makes me feel like I have a brother looking out for me. It makes me feel happy in a way."

"Well, considering what you have told us about him, I think the fact you welcomed it may have been the problem," the two tailed fox said.

"Got that right, Tails," Knuckles added with a shrug while turning to Miguel. "Look, kid, I think that you should talk with Sam to help him understand your situation better. The last thing we need is emotional drama on this adventure."

"Got it, Knux. That's the very last thing we need in this situation. See ya all in a bit, guys," the young man said right before going toward the door and out the lab.

Once outside the lab, Miguel saw Sam sitting down on a tree stump as he stared off into the forest.

The four eyed teen could only glance his companion's direction just as he spoke, "If you wanna talk, we don't exactly have the time to do so."

"Just want to make a couple of things clear, Sam," Miguel said right as he stood near Sam before speaking again. "We didn't know that you were going to act like that for when Blue gave me those gentle jabs at me. He didn't mean anything by it. Just trying to keep my spirits up in his own way was all he was doing."

"Sonic should know better anyways considering Tails' own past," Sam responded while still not facing Miguel's direction.

"Right, Sammy. And I'm not going to argue with you on that," the young man said. "But it seems that you're taking it a bit more personally than even Tails did."

"You know about me the best, so you know the details already," Sam said quickly regaining his composure. "I'm not gonna let it affect me here since we gotta save Mario. In fact, the more I think about it, we need to get this done fast."

"Right, Sammy. That's good to know," the young man said while turning to his friend before speaking again. "But for the record, Blue and the others barely got to know you so you can't really blame him seeing that he didn't know about it man."

"Got that right, Miguel," Sonic said as he suddenly appeared outside along with the two. "Sorry about earlier, Sam."

"Forget it, it's time we got back into the mansion." the four eyed teen said while looking up at the hill towards the mansion. "Oh, one more thing; do that again and I'll sic Amy on you."

Sonic's face paled at the thought, "OK OK, I WONT DO IT AGAIN!"

"Moving on...We gotta find Mario, guys!" Miguel spoke looking to the Mansion. "There's still half of the mansion we hadn't checked yet and there's the Turds. So best we'd better get the others and get moving."

Back in the mansion, the group breaks the seal on the door leading to the courtyard out in the back. A good deal of spiritual activity was going on here as the group wandered about.

"Well, it's safe to say this is the busiest place in this dump so far," Clay said in a bland tone.

A ghost dropped down from the tree and dropped a bomb in front of the group.

"LOOK OUT!" Tails shouted at the attack.

Sam grabbed the bomb and chucked it at the ghost, the resulting explosion knocked the ghost out long enough for Luigi to capture it. The lights all around the courtyard soon came on.

"Man, now that was real easy," Knuckles said with a sight of relief.

"Honestly, it was a bit too easy, even for this creepy place, Knux," Sonic said as he glanced carefully all around his surroundings.

"Got that right, Blue. And..." was all that Miguel said before he noticed something moving as he turned to Clay. "Hey, Clay? Mind if I borrow the GB Horror?"

"Ok, sure," Clay nodded as he handed Miguel the GB Horror.

Sam soon noticed a treasure chest nearby and moved towards it as he investigated the chest before he opened it. "Hmm. Well, we found more gold here," the four eyed teen said as he put the chest away in his cartoon pocket. "Hehehe, King Boo's gonna be broke before long."

"Hehehehehe. Good to know, Sammy," the blue hedgehog said right as he turned to Miguel who was still using the GB Horror around the room. "How's it going, man?"

"Hm...Actually good considering, Blue. Heh, watch this," was what the young man said before he began to knock on the tree as he chants. "Come out! Come out wherever you are, my little _**Turd-ledove!**_"

"Say what...?" was all that Sam could say before a Boo popped out of the tree where Miguel was scanning.

"Yeah, what the hell kind of insult is turtledove, kid?" was all that the Boo could say before he found himself face to face with Clay's Poltergust nozzle. "Oooops."

Moments later after the Boo is sucked into Clay's Poltergust, he spoke, "Ok, now what?"

"Hey guys, I think I see something in this old birdhouse," Tails said right as he investigated the said birdhouse and pulled out a slip of paper. "It's a letter from Mario! It says, _**"Watch out for the Boos!"**_"

"Kinda figured that out given the reception that they've all given to us a while back, Tails..." Knuckles muttered at the memory.

"Yeah, given the fact that those little turds are lead by King Boo-Boo himself, it's clear that they're connected," Miguel said in thought.

"I dunno, I think they're might be more to it," Tails said while a bit more deep in thought than the others.

"Why don't we see Madam Clairvoya then? She's bound to offer a hand here," Toad suggested to the group.

The group all agreed and went to see Madam Clairvoya, who then examined the note.

"Hmmm. This sure was written in a hurry," Clairvoya said in thought while looking at the note. "The Boos must have been right on top of him as he wrote this."

"Can you tell us what Mario meant?" the green clad plumber asked.

The ghost fortune teller nodded as she began her reading, "Hmmmm...Seems that these Boos possess an unusual power for spirits of their kind. The more of them there are, the greater their strength."

"Figured that was the case. Otherwise, Boo-Boo wouldn't be able to create something such as this whole mansion," Miguel said thoughtfully. "Heard from Zel that sorcerers usually gather and harness the spirits of the dead in order to increase their own magic power."

"So we're not just dealing with a gang of ghosts, but rather a collective?" Sam said with a shiver. "Th-That's very unsettling."

"How do you figure?" Toad asked a bit concerned right as the toony teen began his explanation.

"Alone they can't really do much. But in groups their coordination is second to none. Same story with bees, wasps, and so forth. These ghosts tend to operate well as individuals however, but in such a huge group the combined psychic energies of all the Boos in this mansion is very VERY dangerous stuff. The fact we have captured a number of Boos so far means their influence is weakening, thank god. But they still have a distinct advantage. Until we have half of all the Boos in this mansion, they'll still have more power than us."

"How many Boos are there?" Clay asked.

"I sensed fifty originally, not counting their king. Now there are only 32 left," Clairvoya answered using her powers to back up the case.

"So now we have eighteen Boos to deal with," Sam said thinking it over.

Knuckles could only snarl as he spoke, "So we not only have the ghosts King Boo enslaved, but these annoying bastards as well."

"Got that right, Knux," Miguel said with a sigh. "But for now let's focus on searching through the mansion for the portrait ghosts while looking for the little turds."

"Not to mention find more clues on where Mario is, Miguel," Sonic added.

"There's still a few rooms left to check on this floor and in the second floor hall where we got the first three gallery ghosts. We just need to get the keys," the four eyed teen said.

"W-Well, let's get this over with..." was all that Luigi could say before he and the others all headed to the next part of their adventure.

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><p><strong>AN:** Well, that's that guys! Another chapter gone and done!** NUTCASE** really helped out with this, but honestly it was really tough for me to do. Anyways, hope that all of you would give reviews, it would mean a lot for both me and** NUTCASE**. Laters!


	8. Mixed up Rooms and Starry Skies

Okay, here comes Chapter 8 of this story. Now it was a bit difficult for this chapter to get up but it worked. Not to mention that I had help from **NUTCASE1733** to helping with adding a few more things to this chapter. Especially given that one of his favorite pokemon makes its first guest appearance.

Anyways, like I said there would be references from different games and anime. They've been mentioned at the previous chapters so I don't need to repeat myself on it.

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><p>The group all went back out toward the park-like courtyard to find more clues. As they searched all around the area, they all heard shouting coming from out of nowhere.<p>

"Where's that shouting coming from?" Clay said while looking around for the source of the sound.

"Hmm. It sounds familiar..." Tails added while looking around the courtyard.

"That's Mario! I recognize that voice anywhere!" Toad exclaimed as he followed the sound until he was near old-fashioned well. "It seems to be coming from the bottom of this old well!"

"Well what are we all doing standing here for? Let's check it out!" Sonic said as he was about to jump into the structure.

"Hold it, Blue! For all we know it could be a trap!" Knuckles said stopping the blue hedgehog's movements by grabbing onto his spines.

"It's a chance we have to take Knuckles. That's our brother!" Clay said while as determined as Sonic wanting to check out the source of the sound.

"Hang on Mario, we're coming!" Luigi shouted as he climbed down the well with Clay and Miguel following close behind him.

Right as the three started to climb down; it felt a bit cramped for the three as they got deeper in.

"It's a little cramped down here; I think the rest of you had better wait outside!" the young Mario brother said to the rest of the group as he climbed down.

"Ok, just be careful down there!" Sam said with a nod.

"Right, we'll hold down the fort here while you guys investigate," Sonic said while stretching his legs to get ready.

"Gotcha, True Blue," Miguel said while continuing down the well. "Just wish us luck down there."

As the trio made their footfall on the bottom of the well, they see a tunnel ahead. Luigi pointed his flashlight ahead while lighting a clear path, "Bet Mario's down there."

"Let's check it out," Clay said while taking the lead.

They head down the path until they reached a dead end. They saw an opening in the wall ahead which went into a lit room. Of course it did not rise up the creepy atmosphere it brought.

"Ugh, creepy, but that's not what's making me shake," Miguel spoke in a shiver as he looked at the lighted hole. "There's a strong magic power here, guys. I can feel it."

"That hole's too small to squeeze through but one of us could look through it," Clay spoke looking to the lighted opening.

The green clad plumber shivered as he looked to the lightened opening right before he asked, "So...who gets to do this part of the job?"

"Rock paper scissors?" Miguel suggested in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere despite the situation.

"Ugh, Forget about it. I'll do it," was all that Luigi said as he went towards the hole and looked through it.

What the tall plumber saw was a room which could have passed of as a kind of temple. The walls appeared to be made of gold, and there were lion statues as well. Luigi noted that he was peering through one of the statues' mouths. Looking to his left, he spotted King Boo with his back turned to Luigi. But what the ghost was looking at nearly made Luigi cry out; a large painting was on the wall, and the painting was of Mario. But it became apparent it was no normal painting as Mario pounded on some kind of wall which seemed to keep him INSIDE the painting. And his voice made it more apparent that he's still living.

"LET ME OUTTA HERE, YOU FUCKING WASTE OF SPIRIT ENERGY!" Mario shouted to the ghost while still pounding defiantly at his prison.

Luigi pulled himself away from the hole, his face as pale as any ghost they'd seen that night. Miguel was the first to speak out his thoughts.

"What did you see, man? What's behind the wall that gave you that pale look?"

"Ma-ma-ma-ma..." was all that Luigi could say stuttering in fright.

Clay quickly picked up a bucket of water from the ground and splashes Luigi on the face with it, "What the hell did you see?"

"I-I just s-saw Mario...t-trapped in a painting!" the older plumber said as his head shook in fright.

Miguel widen his eyes at the words just as he responded, "Wh-What?"

"I saw Mario stuck in a painting! It's like King Boo has a portificationizer that works on people!" Luigi responded while a bit shaken what he saw.

"Let's get outta here," Clay said as he and his two friends all climbed back up to the surface.

Back on topside, the three confronted the group about what they learned and well...let's just say that their reactions are in between shocked and frightened.

"SAY WHAT!" Toad shouted with wide eyes.

"Mario's been turned into a painting? How's that possible?" the red echidna asked just as shocked as everyone else.

"That's what Luigi says, Knux," Miguel said with a shiver. "Given all that strong magic energy, it's possible."

"I heard stories of this happening," Sam added while thinking about the subject more. "Some people who have fallen prey to evil spirits are said to have been trapped in paintings for eternity."

"That's horrible..." Tails replied while shivering at the thought.

"It further drives my earlier point that we gotta get Mario out as soon as possible. There's a chance that it could be permanent if we don't act fast," the four eyed toon teen added in a serious tone.

"Please say that you're joking..." Clay said as he hoped that Sam's words were false.

"Unfortunately...he's not..." Luigi said as he remembered a case the Ghostbusters had when he and Mario lived in Brooklyn. "Back in New York, the Ghostbusters had a case similar to this at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A lord and his men were banished to an old tapestry by the ancient wizard, Merlin. One day he broke free at a museum opening and managed to break free and kidnap Peter's date. She almost wound up being brainwashed into thinking she was the lord's own girlfriend since she had been around the magic for too long."

"I've heard Lina talking about the same thing guys and I've got to agree with Sam that we've got to get off our butts and start looking for more of those ghosts as well as the little turds as soon as possible before it's too late," the brown haired teen said after hearing his friend's words about the tale.

"Got that right, kid!" the blue hedgehog said as he got to his feet ready for action. "Let's all get going!"

"Right now it's only 9:50 PM," Sam said while looking at his watch. "We have two more hours before the night is over. I got a feeling midnight's gonna be the deadline."

"Please! Don't say deadline! Ugh!" Luigi shivered at the mention of those words.

With that, the group goes towards to and went through the next door. What they all saw was a small but fully-equipped gym.

"Too bad this is a fake mansion and that we're on the clock," Sam said taking a look around the gym. "It would be nice to have a little bit of a workout."

"Then take five minutes to work on your flabby weakling bodies!" a voice, which sounded eerily like Arnold the pit bull from Tiny Toons, spoke out throughout the room.

It was then that a very muscular ghost wearing a red gym shirt appeared in the middle of the room. He easily lifted a five hundred pound barbell just one of his muscled arms.

"Great, just what we need. Muscle bound jock ghosts," Clay moaned.

"Heheheh. Not a problem Clay, given that we could use our heads for this one," Sonic said with a snicker looking to the muscle bound ghost.

"Sorry, we got a schedule to keep here," the small toad person said while moving away a bit.

"Who is this meathead anyway?" Clay asked right as his older brother looked at the GB Horror for the info.

"Says here in the GBH that he was Biff Atlas. A world-famous heavyweight wrestler, boxer, and weightlifting champion."

"Heh, this guy doesn't look tough. If anything, I could beat him with both my eyes closed!" Knuckles said in a cocky voice looking towards the muscled ghost.

"Let's not get in over our heads, Knucklehead. We're on a really tight schedule here," Miguel said with a sigh.

"Little puny boy may be right. You have no chance against me, anyway," Biff said while still lifting his weight like it was nothing.

"Oh really?" Clay said with a grin as he walked behind Biff to a large sandbag. "Puny this, muscle head!"

The young Mario punched the sandbag hard, causing the sand bag to whack Biff from behind and to result in him crashing into a wall.

Biff, as he gets up, sported an angry look on his face as he spoke, "Bad move, little girly-man!"

"Want some, Little Buddy?" was all that Sonic said as he handed over a bag of popcorn over to Tails.

"Hehehe. Thanks Sonic," the young fox answered as he took some popcorn while watching the scene.

Sam moved towards another nearby sandbag and smacked with it Biff before he could get to Clay, "Sorry buddy, not happening."

"You will not best me, tiny man!" the muscled bound ghost said while throwing punches blindly right before he was hit in the face with a medicine ball thrown by Toad.

"HA! HA! BULL'S EYE!"

"Hahaha! Time to wrap this up!" was all Luigi said as he sucked up Biff without hassle, and the lights come on all over the gym.

"Hehehehehe. Now that's a good show," Knuckles said as he got up from his resting spot inside the gym.

"I'll say, Knux. But we'd best be moving," Sonic said while getting up from his seat after he and Tails finished the last of the popcorn.

"Right, Blue but first..." was all Miguel said as he looked at the GBH towards another random punching bag and gave it a good punch. "Take that, you little turd ball!"

"WAAAH! Oh yeah, tough guy!" the Boo shouted right as he flew at Miguel's direction.

"Not happening!" Clay shouted right as he aimed his Poltergust at the Boo and managed to catch it in no time flat.

"Let's just get going guys. No use staying here." the young teen said while shaking his head at the Boo's easy capture while handing the GB Horror to Sam.

The four eyed boy looked at the screen on the GBH before he spoke, "Ok, from here we can get to the third floor and the attic."

"Found another key here too," the young plumber said holding up said key in his hand.

"Hmm. Says this unlocks the door that joins the hall outside this room with the rest of the first floor hall where we came from," Luigi said looking to the map of the GBH.

"Kinda pointless but at least we don't need to go through the courtyard to get here and vice versa now," Tails said with a nod.

"Ok, let's get up to the next floor then," Toad added while he and the others continued on their journey.

The group made it up to the next floor where the group saw more crazy and unstable spiritual activity. This time, weird red blowfish-like spirits were seen floating about and they exploded whenever the group tried to vacuum them up.

"OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!" Luigi shouted as he managed to blow out the flames on his rear after one such blowfish ghost exploded behind him.

"Ugh! Seems that Van Gore guy E. Gadd told us about is working overtime," Sam said with a moan of annoyance.

"Heheheh. So if we take care of that guy, we would be able to make the rest of the way like a walk in the park!" Knuckles said as he punched out another ghost.

"Well, for a bit, Knux, but we've still got the little turd balls to deal with," Miguel said as he finished off a bomb wield ghost with a Freeze Arrow spell.

"I wonder what this room has in store for us," Clay said right as he went toward a door and opened it right as he entered along with the rest.

What the group found was a room with a star design on the floor with candles all around the design. Of course the lack of light in the room did not calm the group's nerves.

"Uh...might this be a bad sign?" Toad said with a shiver.

"No, not really. See how the star is positioned?" Sam said while pointing to the star design on the floor before continuing on with his explanation. "If it were upside down, then it WOULD be bad. We got nothing to worry about. But there must be something here since it's dark."

"Let's not worry about it right now, there's another room ahead," Clay said right as he goes toward the door at the other end of the room and opened it while walking through with the gang following behind. However, as they walked through the door, the group all found themselves right at the very same room that they all first entered.

"WHAT? How'd that happen!" the young plumber exclaimed while he looked back and forth of the door they went through.

"That's what I'd like to know myself, Clay!" the echidna said as his eyes twirled around in confusion. "This place is just getting really crazy!"

Sam goes to the door and walked though it again like before. He, like Clay, walked in through the entrance. "Ok..." the four eyed teen muttered as he went back to the door and puts his hand through the door. His hand reappeared in the original entrance like something from a cartoon. He waved his hand, and the hand, sure enough, waved back. "Uh...I feel like I'm in a Road Runner cartoon here."

Tails himself walked out through the entrance to the room and saw that he's in the hall. He walked back into the room as he spoke, "That door must have some weird spell put on it."

"Looks like it but what kind though, little buddy?" the blue hedgehog asked curiously.

"Hmm...well, Zelgadis told me about something like this," Miguel spoke as he looked at the door. "He told me that strong magic users could use spells that warp space around the room the intruder's in. It would also cause said intruders to become mad when trying to get out of a certain maze or labyrinth too."

"I remember Bowser's done things like this before. Not a good memory," Luigi added while shivering at the memory.

"Right. Not only that, but it would seem that King Boo's done something to keep us off the trail," the young man said while looking around the room.

"Man, not to mention that it's going to really be a pain," Sonic said with a sigh looking to the room.

"So how do we break the spell?" Toad asked.

"There's gotta be a trick to it. Let's see what we have here," Sam said while looking around the room. "Anyone see anything odd about this room?"

"Aside the star pattern?" Clay said while looking at the said pattern on the floor.

"That might be a clue...wait, the candles!" the young fox said while looking to the candles. "They aren't lit. Perhaps we should light them?"

"Hmm...actually that's right, Tails! I remember this bit!" Miguel said while exclaimed in thought. "Zelgadis said once that for a magic user to maintain the spell without having to focus, he'd need an item to help in the job. Or something that could be used to guide the user in case he's caught in it."

"Ok, so we light the candles. Anyone got a match?" Luigi said while looking to everyone in the group.

"Hang on. I've got it," Sam said while he pulled out another pokeball and lets out a familiar orange lizard.

"Char char!" the little lizard with a flaming tail spoke.

"Hehehehe. Charmander! One of my faves," Miguel said with a smile at the sight of the new pokemon.

"Hehehehehe. Nice choice on that one, Sammy," Sonic said while he too looked to the flame pokemon.

"I need to borrow your tail flame for this Charmander, hang on," Sam said as he picked up Charmander and lighted each of the candles using its tail.

"Ok, good!" Tails said with a smile.

When Sam used Charmander's tail to light up the last candle, all the candles lit up the room. Suddenly the candles changed from orange flames to purplish-black flames one after another before going out.

"Uh oh...not good," the older Mario brother said with a shiver.

The small room was fairly cramped, so when the five ghosts appeared in the room it seriously restricted movement all around the group.

A Ghost Guy waved his spear threateningly while one of the orange spooks seen earlier on cackled madly as it flew at Luigi. The man ducked from its attack just in time and the ghost wound up punching out a serpent-like ghoul that was about to grab Knuckles.

"Uh...maybe this wasn't such a good idea..." Toad said with a shiver while hiding behind the group.

"Whoa! Got that right, little man!" Sonic said getting ready while looking around. "Looks like we've got a fight on our hands!"

This of course got Charmander growl angrily at the roaming specters as they closed in on them.

"What's his deal?" Clay asked.

"!" the Charmander let out a powerful flamethrower, burning the ghosts very badly.

"Why you little creep! That hurt!" The Ghost Guy growled as he attempted to run Charmander through with his spear.

"Charmander!" The little lizard roared as he used Metal Claw, his tiny hands shone a silverish-white color as he cut the spear in half. "UH OH..." The Ghost guy muttered before being burned with Flamethrower once again.

"I got 'im!" Sam yelled as he captured the Shy Guy spook. The snake-like ghost made a move for Sam soon after.

Charmander quickly lashed out, peppering the ghost with small fireballs as he used his Ember attack. While the ghost was halted by the assault, Charmander spewed blue and gold flames scoring major damage with his Dragon Rage attack.

"Wow, that's some fire power!" Toad said, as he was amazed by the bizarre flames.

Luigi soon captured the ghost, and said, "There's three more! Can the little spitfire keep it up?"

"Only one way to find out! Charmander, Fire Spin the remaining three ghosts!" Sam yelled out as the other ghouls came up to them.

Charmander's tail flame grew a bit before the lizard spewed out a swirling jet of flames. "CHARMANDER!" The flames hit the ghosts formed a fiery whirlwind, trapping the supernatural menaces.

"Wh-Whoa! W-Well, now that's something!" Knuckles said a bit amazed at the little lizard pokemon.

"It's what you should expect of a fire pokemon like Charmander, Knux," the brown haired teen said while looking at the pokemon. "Not to mention that he'd pick up on what's up before any of us."

When the flames died away, the three ghosts were having a hard time maintaining their forms. This made them extremely easy to capture once Clay, Luigi, and Sam trained their vacuums on them. The lights came on at that moment as well.

"Great work Charmander, thanks a lot," the four eyed teen said while petting the little pokemon on the head.

"Char char!" Charmander responded right before he heard something from a nearby chest, and burnt it up with another flamethrower.

Suddenly a Boo leapt out of the chest with his rear set ablaze. "YEEEEOWWW! OWOWOWOWOWOWOWW!" was all that the ghost said as he was caught in an instant.

"Hahahahhah. Nice one, little Char. Way to toast the turd!" Miguel said to the flame pokemon as it cheered happily.

"Char! Char!"

"Perhaps I'd better keep him on hand since he's so eager to help," Sam suggested.

Toad could only nod at those words, "Yeah he's definitely quick on the draw!"

"Now let's see what these guys were hiding," Clay said as he went into the next room to check something out. "Oh cool! Guys, there's a small but effective observatory in here!"

"Heheheheheh. Neato!" was all Sonic said as he ran into the room and looked inside. "Man, now this place is awesome! Too bad this place is haunted though."

"That's for sure, Blue. It'd be..." Knuckles said following along right as he went inside and saw what was inside as he spoke. "Hey!"

"What is it?" Sam asked curiously.

"Did ya find something?" Luigi added.

"Only that it might be another way leading outside, guys. Come in and check it out for yourselves!" the red echidna said as he and the others entered.

What they found was very unusual but pretty. They entered a space in which the starry night sky surrounded them and the moon looked particularly bright and alluring.

"Well, this looks interesting," Sam said while looking around along with his pokemon.

"Hey, there's some kind of trail here made of stardust," Clay spoke while pointing to the said trail that seemed to lead to space.

Luigi looked on in awe as he started to speak, "It's like the Star Way Mario said linked Shooting Star Summit with Star Haven when he and the others went to Bowser's Castle to get the Star Rod."

"Man, now this is something! It's like staring into outer space! Now..." was all the brown haired teen said before he looked to the moon and noticed something strange with it. "Say, look at the moon guys!"

They saw the moon had rotated itself a bit, and showed it looked like it was broken apart on one side.

"The moon cut in half?" Tails said flabbergasted as he looked to the moon.

Clay looked at the scene closer as he spoke, "Hmm. I think I see something on it..."

"This must be another illusion set up by the mansion, but why would King Boo set something like this up?" the four eyed teen wondered while examining the scene.

"Whatever's out there might be important. I'm going to check it out," Clay said while making his way on the path.

The young plumber walked onto the path by himself and made it to the moon. There, he saw a shining gold Starman. Smiling, he picked it up and took it back to the others.

"Look at this, guys! Mario's spare Starman."

"Hehehehe. Awesome, Clay!" Sonic said with a smile. "Now that's something that we could use later on when we reach Mario."

"Got that right, Blue," Knuckles said while looking at the magic item.

"Ok, we got the star. Let's keep looking around up here before we go back to Clairvoya. It'd save us time," Sam suggested to everyone.

"I was thinking the same thing," the thin plumber said as he looked to his watch. "We only have an hour and forty minutes to midnight."

With those words said, the group all hurried down the halls to get their mission done. With limited time they've got, they'll need all the time they could get.

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><p><strong>AN:** Well, that's that for this chapter, gang. Man, is the craziness for the gang going to be something given what you all read. Especially with the help I've got from **NUTCASE1733** to help with this chapter. He really likes it with the pokemon he's put out for this one. So anyways, hope you enjoyed it. Laters and hope to see good reviews from you all.


	9. Fortunes come to Light

Okay here comes the new chapter for this fanfic guys. I intended for this chapter to be up sooner but I was busy given how close it is for me to re-enter university for me guys. That and a lot of pressure. Anyways, this chapter's got mine and NUTCASE1733's OCs in it. The rest belong to their respective owners. Thank you and enjoy.

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><p>As the group went back to the third floor hall, Luigi checked the map on the GBH to find out where they are. "Ok, the next room we're headed to is at the end of this stretch of hall...it leads to a fairly large room behind the wall on our right," The older plumber said as he carefully tracked their current position.<p>

"What's in there, Luigi?" Sonic asked as they continued on.

"Just says it's a normal room."

Going inside, they saw that it was a normal room as Luigi stated. There was an old-fashioned sewing machine akin to the one in the story of Sleeping Beauty, and a small table with a bowl of yarn balls.

"Reminds me of my grandmother's place a bit," Sam said as he looked around. "This might be where the grandparents live."

"Hehehe, you're right on that one deary," Said a kind and elderly voice. A very old lady ghost materialized in a rocking chair, knitting a scarf that was ridiculously long. "Feel free to call me Nana, kids."

"Hi there, Nana!" Toad said politely.

"Offing an old lady...glad we got rid of Bogmire when we did..." Knuckles muttered.

Looking at the GB Horror, Miguel said, "Nana, huh? Says here that you never completed the scarf you were knitting when you were alive.

"Yes I wanted to give it to my grandson Orville for when he became a pilot," Nana said with regret. "But for some reason despite being dead I cannot stop knitting this blasted thing...it's over seven hundred feet long now."

Looking to the old lady with a sad look, Sam said, "Well once we release you into a new home we might be able to find you something else to do ok?"

"Oh that'd be lovely, sonny! Feel free to send me back any time."

After capturing the old woman ghost, as well as flushed out another Boo and found another key in the process, they moved on.

"Poor old lady, hope we'll be able to help her and all the other ghosts..." Tails said feeling a bit down.

"Too bad we can't do anything more to Bogmire than we already did," Knuckles growled. "How'd that thing attack the family anyways? It seemed to me that despite being rich, this family was perfectly happy!"

Sam thought about this, and sighed as he spoke, "The more I think about it the more I'm convinced someone likely summoned Bogmire and had him kill the family out of jealousy."

"Makes sense to me," Miguel said bitterly. "I heard about stuff like that even before meeting any of you. Once I found out mystic forces do exist, the idea of this kind of thing makes it even more terrifying."

"Too bad the guy who summoned Bogmire in the first place, if there was such an occurrence, would likely be dead now. Sometimes such rituals result in the summoner being killed as sacrifice."

"To change the subject, it's been a while since we first entered the mansion," Clay said matter of factly. "And according to the map, there's a restroom nearby."

"I could do with a splash of water on the face myself..." Tails said as he wiped away some dirt on his face.

Going to the door, Toad listened carefully before he answered, "Uh, I think someone's in there. I hear the shower running..."

Sonic, confused, asked, "What? Why would a ghost need to bathe?"

Sam got the Poltergust ready and said, "We may as well check this out."

They all went into the restroom quietly. They heard someone humming in the running shower. What they all saw was the silhouette of a very attractive and full figured woman from behind the curtain as she continued to hum away.

"Oh god, why do I get the feeling that this won't end well?" Sam said quietly, as images from the movie psycho ran through his head.

"We gotta catch the ghost anyway man, then we got the run of the place," Toad said quietly.

"W-Who's there?" exclaimed a female voice.

"Uh oh...We're in trouble," Knuckles said as the curtain ripped open.

What they saw confused them a lot as they saw the spirit, which looked like a cartoon pig in a bikini, glaring at them in surprise and anger.

Sam was equally shocked...and not just because of awkward situation either. "UH..." That was all he could get out of his mouth as he was struck in the forehead by a bar of soap and knocked out.

"GET OUT OF HERE, YOU PERVERTS!" The ghost, whom the GBH identified as Miss Petunia, screamed as she went into a rage. "HAVE YOU NO MANNERS?"

"AAAH! QUICK, CATCH HER!" Miguel shouted as he set up a magic barrier to protect everyone.

"Sorry ma'am, we'll make this up to ya!" Luigi shouted as he proceeded to catch Miss Petunia. After sucking her into the Poltergust, the lights came on which allowed the group to catch their breaths. They also found the next key on a high shelf next to the bathtub.

"What the hell was that about?" Sam said after he woke up from his knock out.

Luigi checked the Game Boy Horror and said, "Says here that ghost was a former model named Miss Petunia..."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't models generally NOT obese?" Clay said skeptical of the claim.

"Must be some weird, cruel joke Bogmire pulled on her to kill her," Sam said matter of factly.

"Easily the most twisted sense of humor ever..." Tails said with a flat look on his face as everyone agreed with the statement.

The group soon found themselves in the halls and headed to their next stop. They found more treasure along the way, depriving King Boo of more riches all the while.

"Say where do those keys we found go?" Toad asked quickly.

"We need to backtrack it seems," Sam said as he checked the map. "One key goes to a room just across from Melody's music room while the other goes to the one remaining room from that short hall where we met Neville, Chauncey, and Lydia."

"Ok, we got two separate rooms to check out here. How should we do this?" Toad asked while a bit scared about having to split up.

"The answer's obvious; we split up to make the difference to save time," Sam answered while thinking and looking between the doors. "We meet back in the hall by Clairvoya's if we find any more of Mario's things."

"Then why don't we have Clay lead one team and Luigi lead another? That way it would be less bothersome," Sonic suggested while looking to Miguel's direction. "Miguel here has magic abilities and can sense any energy these ghouls emit, so I think it might help out a bit in the long run."

"Alright. Good enough," Clay said while turning to the brown haired teen's direction. "Miguel you and I along with Toad and Knuckles can check out the room back at the first hall we explored."

"That leaves us to check out the room by the music studio," Luigi said while looking at the way they came.

"Hey, fine with me man. We're going to need all the time and speed that we could get," Sonic responded while eager to get into action.

"Heheheh. That's for sure, Blue," Knuckles said as he pumped his fists to get ready. "Now let's get going and show those spooks why they shouldn't mess with us!"

With those words, Clay, Miguel, Knuckles, and Toad soon found themselves outside the last bedroom in the small hallway on the second floor just off from the foyer. Clay was taking the lead for the group as he approached the door of their destination.

"Alright, let's see what we have in here," the young plumber said right as he unlocked the door and took a peek inside. It was another kid's room decorated with toy cars and planes among other car and plane-related features.

As the group marched into the room, Knuckles voiced out his opinion while looking around, "If not for the fact that we're in a haunted mansion, this would be real cute, guys."

"Got that right, Knux," Miguel said as he looked around while noticing a toy box. "Hmm...Odd. I thought I sensed something over there."

Sam nudged the box a bit as nothing happened, "Doesn't seem to be anything inside."

"Hey guys, look at this!" Toad said as he pointed to a car and plane mobile on the ceiling. "I had one just like this when I was a kid. Hehehehe!" The small toad person jumped up and made the mobile spin all around the ceiling.

Then all of a sudden, two ghost boys who looked to be between five and six appeared. One wore red while the other wore blue. The two boys giggled at the group while also catching them by surprise.

"Wh-Whoa!" the brown haired teen said while a bit off guard at seeing the two twin kid ghosts.

"Yeah! What's your game, you two?" Knuckles said while getting ready for a fight.

"Wanna play?" one of the boys said before his brother spoke out.

"Yeah, wanna play?"

Clay looked up their profile in the GB Horror just as he spoke, "They're Henry and Orville. They're the twin boys of the master and mistress of the mansion."

"That's us!" Henry spoke out in excitement.

"Can we play now?" his brother Orville said while sounding impatient.

"Sorry kids but we got a real pressing matter at hand..." Toad said while a bit impatient himself.

"Yeah my big brother was kidnapped by King Boo, who has been forcing your family to serve him to do us harm to keep us from saving him," Clay said to the two ghost boys.

"Yeah, if it were any different, we would like to play, but given that a man's life is in danger, we can't," the red echidna added with seriousness.

"Really?" Henry said while sounding a bit nervous.

Orville could only think for one moment before he spoke again. "Here, take this," the ghost twin said while throwing down a white glove towards the group. "One of King Boo's goons made us guard this but didn't say why. Chances are it has something to do with the guy he has hostage."

"Hmm...Yeah, that's Mario's right glove, alright," Toad said while at the same time taking a closer look at the dropped item. "Ick, seems the Boos scared him a lot...it's still sweaty..."

"Ugh. Now that's not a pleasant thought, Toad," Miguel said as he turned to the twins. "Anyways guys, we need you two to be in the vacuum now but once all this is said and done, we could play hide and seek with you two as much as you want."

"No problem to me, right bro?" Henry said as he looked to his twin.

"Yeah sounds good to me!" Orville said with a nod while turning towards the group. "Well, we're ready!"

With those words, the twin ghost boys were captured with little resistance offered by the two. Afterwards, another Boo is flushed out of hiding thanks to Miguel's playful rantings and insults. After catching the little ghost, the team soon got out of the room and back into the halls.

"Well, that's one little Turd down, and dozens more to go guys," Miguel said with a smile.

"Ok, let's get going," Toad said as he and Clay moved forward towards the hallway. "This really cut a lot of time on the clock."

"I just hope that the guys are having as much luck as we are!" the young plumber said as he lead his team to where they're supposed to meet.

Now we go on with Luigi and his group as they entered a different room. They all appeared to be inside a game room of some kind. It was filled with a dart board, a chess table, checkers, backgammon, and even a fully-stocked bar and a good old fashioned pool table. A ghost was seen playing at a pool table playing a game quietly while not noticing the group. Luigi was the first speak.

"Wonder who this guys is?"

"Name's Slim, 'stache man. Poolshark extraordinaire," the ghost, Slim, answered as he looked up to the group with a wry grin.

"Hmm...man, now this guy's something given that he's rather...laid back. Heh, my kind of guy," Sonic said with a shrug but smiled.

"So Slim, may we have a little talk?" Tails asked.

"It's about King Boo, ain't it?" Slim asked right as he made a shot at a corner pocket before speaking again. "Yeah, I had a feelin' you'd be here. Hadn't seen hide or hair from most of the others in the past hour and knew you were coming eventually."

"Well, we need to catch ya, sorry to say," the green clad plumber said getting his Poltergust ready.

"Just let me play one last frame, son," the skinny ghost said as he made a few more shots, satisfied with his game. "Yeah. That'll do. Send me on back kids; I'm ready for the canvas again."

"We'll release you eventually, sir," Tail said to Slim.

"Yeah I remember the doc's promise," the thin ghost said while getting ready to be captured. "See you kids later, alright?"

Right after sucking up Slim, the group started to talk with one another about their next move.

"Okay, now that's another spook down. Now we need to look around the room for any clues for Mario before we get back to the others, guys," the blue hedgehog said looking around the room.

"Ok, there's another room over here," Luigi said while looking to a door on the other side.

"Ok, let's check it out," the young fox said as he and the others went through the said door.

As they all entered, the group saw the next room to be an at-home theater. A projector was seen along with a movie screen.

"Hey, cool! Home movies!" Luigi said while, for the first time, giddy at seeing the old fashioned device.

"Hehehehe. Well, that machine must have been something given that this place has to look like a screening room and all, Luigi," Sonic said looking to Luigi's amazed expression. "Now question is why is something like that doing here?"

"These guys apparently enjoyed the memories of days gone by I believe," Tails answered to his older friend as he touched the projector, which suddenly turned on by itself. "Pretty touchy machine."

"Well, at least there's some light here," Luigi said as he snapped out of his happy gaze.

All too soon, a shadow appeared on the projector and moved around the screen. It appeared to move towards Sonic.

"Is a movie in the projector?" the older plumber asked curiously.

"No, I don't think so..." Tails answered a bit unnerved at the ominous Shadow figure.

Suddenly, something unseen grabbed Sonic and started to tug him around the room.

"AHH! Let go of me, slimeball!" he shouted as he started to run around and vibrated at high speeds to try to shake off the ghost.

"Hang on paisano!" Luigi shouted right as he stunned the ghost holding Sonic and sucked it up.

"The ghosts are trying to attack us through our shadows!" Tails exclaimed as he looked around the room.

Then all of a sudden, two more ghosts appeared on the projector, circling the group like sharks ready to strike.

"Ugh, that's it!" the blue hedgehog said as he started to spin as light gathered onto and around his body. "Ready...GO!"

Sonic then started to charge at each of the ghosts at high speeds while moving at the speed of light. All the ghosts which are stunned by the attack were visible and are quickly sucked up by both Luigi and Clay. The lights then came on and another treasure chest popped up in front of them.

"More money?" the young fox asked curiously.

"No, but I found one of Mario's boots," Luigi said as he opened it, looked inside, and shows everyone the brown shoe. "I need to remind him to buy a new pair soon. Noticed that they're getting worn the past couple of weeks."

"Well, looks to me that we've found what we need in here," Sonic said while heading towards the exit. "Now let's get back to the others to see how they're doing guys. Let's hope they have made good progress at their own mission."

Moments later, the two groups soon met back in the hall to give a follow up of their own missions.

"So find anything?" Sam asked.

"We found one of Mario's boots after we got a gallery ghost," Tails answered while holding up the said shoe for them to see.

"We found two more ghosts ourselves, and Mario's glove," Clay added while at the same time showing off the white glove. "Let's see Clairvoya now for some assistance."

With those words, the group all marched through the halls and headed back to where Clairvoya resides. When everyone started to show her the items they've brought, the fortune teller spectre started to examine each. Clairvoya scanned each item while gazing into her crystal ball.

"Hmmm. It never ceases to surprise me the beauty of these items," she spoke as she looked at the Starman while the female ghost began to divine. "Ok...Mario is alive and well...he's in a painting...and-come on! Work you stupid orb!"

"Is something wrong?" Sam asked a bit concerned and curious.

"Ugh! I think King Boo's attempting to sever my contact with the oracles," Clairvoya said as she forced more of her power into the crystal to blow King Boo's power away. "Ok good! Your Mario is in an odd altar, inside a painting...gah, the oracle left me. King Boo must have delicate info he does not wish to have let loose."

"Great, now what?" Sonic asked in annoyance.

"There's still the shoe and glove to be examined, Blue," Knuckles responded while handing over the said items to the ghostly seer.

"Let's try then," Clairvoya said as she took the glove and examines it. "Ah, it is still soaked with the sweat of the living! This could help amplify my connection." From there, she begins to divine through her crystal ball. "Ah yes. It's about the source of the many other ghosts in the mansion. The ghost artist, Van Gore. Due to his bitterness he is easily influenced by King Boo. When you face him you need to neutralize his anger somehow."

"Hmm...I think I might have something in mind that'll calm him down given that I've been trained in magic," the teen said while looking to the fortune teller. "But please go on, Miss."

"Hmm. Seems nothing else is coming to me from this item. I have enough power for one last reading," Clairvoya said as she put down the item.

"Good thing the boot's all that's left," Luigi said while taking out the said boot.

"You can do it Clairvoya, anything you got can help!" Tails exclaimed to the fortune teller as she was handed the brown shoe.

"The spirits are speaking to me with much urgency...never heard them so vocal before," the female ghost said as she looks to her crystal ball while also examining the brown shoe as she focused her powers at the task. "It's hard to concentrate. Calm down, I can't understand what you're...W-WHAT!"

"Whoa! What is it, miss? What's the emergency?" Knuckles asked while also a bit anxious at what was happening.

"Yeah, you look like you've just seen something from a horror movie or something," Sonic quipped though not in the mood to joke at a time like this.

Sam looked at the crystal ball and gave out a wide eyed expression right before he spoke out to the gang, "She might have seen just that! LOOK!"

Everyone in the group looks at the ball; all were shocked at seeing the image of the crystal ball. What they all saw was the face of a familiar enemy. The red hair, the fangs, and evil eyes say it all.

"BOWSER!" both Luigi and Clay shouted at the sight of the Koopa King.

"Whoa Whoa! Time out!" Miguel exclaimed right as he looked closer to the crystal ball for a closer look. "What's Baby Wack doing in there?"

"I'm as confused as you are! Please, tell me more!" Clairvoya herself spoke wondering about the occurrence herself.

"I think I'm beginning to piece this together, guys," the four eyed teen toon said after he finally managed to compose himself.

"What's up?" Tails asked while curious about the situation.

"Yeah, what did you find out?" Toad added in wonder.

"Ok, keep in mind the last big plan Bowser pulled was stealing the Star Rod; an item that can grant any wish," Sam said as he got everyone's attention. "By all logical standpoints there'd be no way Mario could have stopped him. But he did so anyway because the Star Spirits granted him the power to cut through the rod's power."

The explanation, of course, got the red echidna confused right as he spoke, "...okay, and what does that have to do with anything?"

"Tell him, Sammy," Miguel said with a sigh as he turned to Sam

"Well, we learned that King Boo is one of Bowser's goons, right?" Sam said while getting everyone else's attention.

It was then that the young fox Mobian began to piece it together just as he spoke up, "So some time ago Bowser must have had a meeting to help figure out what he should do to prevent Mario or his brothers from getting in the way again..."

"Which lead to King Boo going through all this trouble just so we could be put out of commission!" Clay concluded while causing everyone around to come to the same conclusion.

"Whoa! Whoa! Now that's really putting it deep, guys!" Sonic exclaimed at the explanation.

"I'll say," the human teen said still pretty shocked at the discovery. "Wack's having King Turd to do his work for him. Typical."

"The scary thing is that it almost worked," Sam responded with a shiver.

"Y-yeah...Scary..." Toad said adding to the fright.

"AAAUGH!" Clairvoya shouted right as she landed on her chair and relaxed. "The spirits left me! I cannot do anything more for you now...but on the bright side I was able to help you get ready for possible danger, so I can go back to my painting without regrets."

"Well, thanks for all the help, Madam Clairvoya. We promise to make it up to ya someday," was all that Luigi could say before he captured the fortune teller and all the lights turned on lighting the room.

"And the lights come right back on guys. Thank god," Sonic announced with a sigh in relief.

"That's for sure, Blue. Now..." was all Knuckles could say before he noticed something beneath the table "Hmm...found another spook."

"We see you, so come out!" Clay shouted under the table right as a Boo jumped right out of it and shouted in surprise.

"WAAAH! YOU'VE FOUND ME!"

"Oh lookie what we have here, guys! A turdling missing from his flock!" Miguel smiled as he managed to keep the Boo from running away with his Freeze Arrow spell.

"Say goodbye, sucker!" was all Clay said before he caught the Boo and sucked it into his Poltergust.

"Ok, we have an hour and 20 minutes left, guys," Sam said as he looked to his watch while thinking about the situation more. "I think we can finish the last of this if we hurry. But King Boo knows how close we are though."

"Then let's get a move on! We can't let King Boo get away with this!" Tails exclaimed with both Sonic and Knuckles agreeing with a nod.

With those words, the group continued on their journey in a race against time towards the unknown.

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><p><strong>AN:** And that's that. Now I know that you all are watching this fanfic are wondering what's going to happen next. So all I could say to you all is that the next chapter's going to be very good with more Pokemon appearances and such. Anyways, hope to hear from you all soon.


	10. Bump in the Night

Okay everyone! Sorry for the wait but things keep coming up and my concentration has been divided a bit while. Not to mention that it was hard considering that I'm going to be going to CSUN soon to start school life again next week.

Anyways, this chapter's filled with surprises from the game as well as a few twists as well. Not to mention a good running gag too. XDDD. Again, I only own the OC mentioned and another two OCs belong to **NUTCASE1733**. The rest of the characters along with creatures belong to their respective owners as mentioned in previous chapters. Thank you and enjoy.

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><p>A minute or so later, the group made their way to the third floor and found themselves outside on the balcony. As soon as they did, the Boo radar goes nuts.<p>

"Mama-mia! This thing's going crazy!" Luigi said while moving the GBH around to find the cause.

"Guys...look..." Sam said in a scared tone as he pointed to a circle of Boos, fifteen of them, all joined in hands looking as if they were playing ring around the rosy.

"Well, I guess that this saves us the trouble of having to look for the little buggers," Knuckles said a bit frightened but readying for a fight.

"Got that right, Knux," Sonic said but he too felt a bit uneasy about the scene.

"Now question is how are we going to keep the little rolling turd balls still long enough for us to suck 'em up?" Miguel spoke up while thinking of a way to handle the situation.

Of course, before anyone could respond, they all heard the Boos giggling in a manner that frightened them out of their discussion.

"Hehehe. You really think we'll be that easy, kid?" one Boo said with an evil laugh as he turned to its kin. "Ok fellow Boos, it's time we assumed our true form."

The Boos all cackled wickedly as they turned toward the group. They suddenly vanished and reappeared around the group like they did before. And honestly speaking, the gang was all spooked by the action. Especially Luigi.

"GYYAAAAAAH!" screamed the green plumber.

"Get ready, guys! This looks like trouble!" Sam said as he continued to have his guard up while being ready for anything.

All the Boos suddenly flew around the group at high speeds and shot straight up in the air. The fact that the little ghosts were giggling and singing still gave the group a more reason to feel uneasy.

"Oh great! Here it comes!" the red echidna spoke with a moan as he got ready to attack.

All of a sudden, a flash of light blinds the group. When it faded away, the same electromagnetic field from the past boss fights appeared. Only this time, however, the balcony appeared to be separate from the mansion as the field surrounded it.

"Ok, where's all the Boos?" Tails asked in a frighten tone.

A very deep, menacing Boo cackle was heard overhead. The group looks up and saw a gargantuan Boo about 35 feet tall and measured forty feet long headed straight down toward them. This of course has the gang to be terrified at the sight.

"GUYS, SCATTER!" Clay shouted right as he and everyone shook at the sight.

"No need to tell us twice about it, man!" Sonic exclaimed as he sprinted around the area.

"Yeah! Let's..." was all that Miguel could say before he stopped himself in place and looked blankly at the huge ghost. "Wait a minute!" This action got everyone's attention, even the Big Boo's, as they all looked to the huge ghost while also looking pretty annoyed.

"What, Miguel? What's the hold up?" Knuckles asked looking to the young man pretty amazed.

"I'll tell ya what, Knux. This guy over here!" Miguel exclaimed as he pointed to the huge Boo. "I mean, he grow over 35 feet tall, but so what? He's still just big floating bag of hot air! I mean, look at him! He's big, but he's just like any other turd we've caught in this adventure! Bah! I would say more but then that'd be too easy for me to say about Big Boo-Boo here!"

"We're a joke to you, eh mortal? JOKE ABOUT A CRUSHED SPINE!" was what Boolossuss shouted right as he suddenly threw his weight down towards Miguel.

In one quick move, Sam ran up and pushed Miguel away before he could get hit. Boolossuss then crushed Sam like a pancake. When the Boo leapt away, Sam popped back up looking like an accordion. "OWWW..." was what the four eyed teen said while trying to get himself together.

"Miguel, this is really getting serious man! Stop yakking and start running!" Sonic shouted to the young man.

"That right, Blue?" the young man said as he looked to Boolossuss while still holding his ground. "So you're able to crush people flat. So what? You're still just a big, annoying, piece of hot air that just came out of the toilet after eating beans!"

"GRRR! You dare mock the great Boolossuss?" the Giant Boo shouted as he glared at the young man. "We shall take great pleasure in not just crushing you flat, but torturing you slowly before we present you to our king so he may add you to his art collection!

"Ohhh! I'm shaking! I'm shaking!" Miguel mocked as he got closer to a statue of a unicorn made of ice. "The big bad turd ball's gonna torture me into a pancake before presenting me to Boo-Boo! Think you could do that after finishing your lame ass bad guy speech?"

"GRRRR! DIE HUMAN!" shouted Boolossuss with an angry howl as he rushed Miguel.

"Miguel, watch out!" Knuckles shouted towards the boy to move.

Miguel could only smile as he looked to the huge ghost while imitating Curly from the Three Stooges. "Certainly doc! Nyuck! Nyuck!" was all that he said before he moved away from the ice sculpture just in time.

Before the big Boo could see it coming, he collided with the ice sculpture's horn and suddenly burst into tiny Boos. Needless to say that the little ghosts were horrified at what just happened.

"WHAT THE HECK!" one Boo shouted as another joined in anger at what just happened.

"He tricked us!"

Sam recovered from his cartoon experience as he spoke out, "Ok, so we split them apart, what now!"

"We freeze the little turdballs! That's what Sammy! Freeze Arrows!" Miguel shouted creating icy arrows of magic and fired his spell at the little ghosts.

With those words, seven of the Boos are frozen solid. Needless to say, the little ghosts were now getting afraid.

"He's onto us!"

"PANIC!" another Boo shouted wanting to flee.

"Hold your ground, we need to reform!" the third one, supposedly the leader, shouted as he tried to rally the troops.

"Not on your life! Now Luigi!" Clay shouted as he and Luigi began sucking up Boos.

"Oh yeah!" the older plumber said with a smile as he sucked up a few as well.

The Boos that didn't get frozen reformed into a now smaller Boolossuss. Of course, this caused Boolossuss to be now quicker than he was before. Of course, this gave Tails an idea as he turned to Sam.

"Sam, do any of those animal friends of yours make use of ice? We could use backup here!"

"I got just the one in mind for this fight!" Sam answered right as he takes out a pokeball and threw it out. "Go Jynx!"

Out of the ball came a human-like female pokemon wearing a red dress that had long platinum blond hair and purple skin which fitted its human features.

"Jynx, jynx!"

"What in the hell is that thing?" Knuckles asked confused at the sight.

"Another pokemon, one capable of psychic and ice attacks!" the four eyed teen answered.

"Better do something now! Boolossuss is on the offensive!" Toad shouted right as he saw the now faster big Boo running after and going towards Sam.

Sam did not to be told twice as he ordered to his pokemon, "Psychic, now!"

After hearing her master's commands, Jynx's eyes glowed as Boolossuss suddenly stopped in mid-flight caught in purplish psychic energy.

"W-We can't move!" was all Boolossuss shouted being paralyzed by the blanket of psychic power.

"Oh, no kidding. And you've just barely figured that out by yourself, Turdstein?" Miguel mocked the huge ghost.

"I know, seriously. Talk about lack of education, man," the blue hedgehog added with a smile towards the huge struggling Boo.

"RELEASE US NOW!" Boolossuss ordered as he struggled to get free.

The toony Sam could only smile as he spoke, "Okay, you asked for it. Jynx?"

Jynx nodded to her trainer and launched Boolossus at the spike on the icy unicorn statue, breaking him apart once again. Sam of course knew what to do as he ordered his pokemon's next powerful attack.

"OKAY NOW, BLIZZARD!"

Jynx took a deep breath and exhaled a tremendous gust of wind with snow and ice swirling about. To anyone present, it looked like a huge snow storm just struck at the top of the mansion. Moments later, all the remaining Boos are frozen instantly after the attack.

"Okay guys! Time to get with rounding these little bastards up!" Knuckles said to both Clay and Luigi as they armed their Poltergusts.

"With pleasure!" Clay smiled.

"Okay, here we go!" Luigi added while starting up his own Poltergust machine.

Within moments, all of the Boos are vacuumed up into the ghost catching machines. The electro magnetic field around them also returned to normal and the lights all turned on. This gave everyone in the group a huge sigh of relief.

"Thanks a lot, Jynx. That was a great show," Sam said to the human like pokemon with a smile.

"Jyn, Jynx," Jynx spoke with a nod of appreciation.

"Well, we took care of that bozo!" the small Toad man said sighing in relief.

It was then that the GB Horror started to sound off and E. Gadd's face appeared on screen right as he spoke up, "Very good work my boys! Are you okay out there?"

"Most of us are, sir. Of course, Sammy got flatten while I was trying to get the huge turd's attention," Miguel said as he turned to Sam. "Sorry about that, man."

The four eyed teen could only glare to his friend right as he spoke out, "Keep in mind that ghosts aren't really ones to mess with like that."

"Sorry, man, but I've sorta got the bit from Sonic while he's annoying Eggman as well as from the Tiny Toons. Works every time!" Miguel responded while holding his hands up in defense.

"Heheheheheh. Genius man!" Sonic remarked with a smile at the human teen.

"But Samuel has a point here, young man. Ghosts generally won't take insults like that lying down," E. Gadd pointed out through the GB Horror. "You should be lucky any of you are alive right now."

"Yeah, back home a lot of paranormal investigations rose in effort to try and document a ghost will usually try to provoke a ghost to manifest itself in the physical world," Sam said as he stretched and twisted his body to work the kinks out of his spine after being crushed. "The validity of the investigations may be suspect but there have been times I've seen that someone or something assaults one of the film crew of these paranormal shows directly. There were no serious injury mind you but trying to provoke a spirit is asking for trouble."

Miguel gulped, realizing just how stupid he was back there, "S-Sorry guys."

"Hey you didn't know. I honestly didn't know ghosts could take things that harshly anyway," Sonic said reassuring Miguel he didn't do anything wrong.

"How much time do we have left anyway?" Tails spoke out while trying to get to the matter at hand.

Sam looked at his watch and his eyes widened like dinner plates as he answered, "Fourty-five minutes!"

"What's the problem, boys?" E. Gadd asked growing concerned.

Luigi explained the matter to the old scientist about the situation. Afterwards, E. Gadd grew panicked at what he heard.

"Oh my! We can't afford to waste a single moment! Sonic, take the poltergusts and bring them here to be emptied! Once they are, get back up there where you are now!"

"You got it, doc! On my way!" Sonic said right as he took the Poltergusts and dashed away before re-appearing 60 seconds later. "There! Done and done!"

"Ok, let's get that key and move on!" Sam said as he found a blue diamond key on the floor and opened the door.

Before anyone could set foot through the door, a bolt of lightning struck the mansion and all of the lights went out. Needless to say, the darkness is not very welcomed for our heroes.

"The lights are out..." Clay said in a bland manner.

"Oh my! This is not good!" E. Gadd spoke in a panicked tone. "King Boo intends to slow you down by any means necessary! You need to get the power back on now to regain your advantage!"

"W-Where's the circuit breakers!" Luigi asked in a shaken tone.

"In the basement!" E. Gadd answered right as he turned to the blue hedgehog. "Sonic, you're the only one who can get there in time! As we speak the ghosts are homing in on your location!"

"Hmm...Is that right? Hehehehe. No problem!" Sonic said right as he rushed off right in a flash.

"Okay so what about the rest of us? What do we do?" Knuckles asked.

"That should be simple, genius! Just wait for Sonic to get back! We'd just slow him down!" Sam answered annoyed.

"We can't let Sonic go alone, it's probably what they want!" the young fox said while at the same time flying off to where Sonic ran off. "I'm coming with you, Sonic!"

"Looks like we're going to have to split up again," Miguel said with a sigh as he turned to Clay. "Clay, think you could go with them?"

"Well, probably a good idea. I'm not just fast but I also have a poltergust. See ya around!" the young plumber said right as he got himself ready to go after the two Mobians. After Clay, Sonic, and Tails left, the others found themselves getting swarmed like mad, as too many ghosts for them to handle began popping up.

"Th-This isn't good!" Luigi said as he continued to avoid being taken down by the ghosts as he sucked a few up.

"We're going to have to head for cover!" Sam said as he unlocked the door to the next area.

"Going inside with the power out?" Knuckles said in surprise. "ARE YOU OUTTA YOUR MIND!"

"It's either we risk getting' in and find a place to hide or get killed out here!" Toad yelled in response. "C'mon, let's go!" With that Toad ran through the door.

Miguel launched an Elmekia Lance at the ghosts, stunning them long enough to put up a magical barrier around them. "That should keep 'em at bay for now! Now move!" He said as he ran in with Knuckles, Sam, and Luigi.

In the dark hallway ahead of them, Luigi around as he said, "It's surprisingly quiet in here..."

"I know...and I don't like it," Knuckles said as they walked down the dark hall.

Suddenly they heard ringing; the sudden loud blaring of bells scared them out of their wits.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Toad screamed in fright.

"Sounds like an old-fashioned telephone..." Luigi remarked with a shiver on his body. Following the sound into a nearby room, there sure enough was a phone ringing on a small table.

"Okay, why would a phone in a fake mansion ring?" Knuckles asked no one in particular.

Of course Luigi, being who he was, answered it. "H-Hello?" The plumber is suddenly sprayed in the face with a jet of water. Soaked to the bone, Luigi hung up the phone with an annoyed look on his face.

"It was the water company..." Luigi said in a flat tone.

The phone rang again. "Someone else answer it. I'm not in the mood," Luigi said as he looked for a towel to dry off.

"Alright, I got it," Sam said as he went to the phone. "There has to be a rational explanation for this..." the four eyed teen said just as he reached for the phone and answered it. "Hello?"

An explosion went off on the other end of the phone, and flames shot from the speakers as Sam screamed from the unpleasant shock. Sam was left trembling after he fell on his rear.

"Who the heck was that?" Toad asked in surprise.

"Th-The Atomic Energy Commission..." Sam said nervously shivering.

He then took a Geiger Counter to test for possible contamination, which he found he was safe despite what had just happened.

"If that phone rings one more time, I'll...!" Knuckles was cut off as the phone rang again. Growling and finally having enough, he answered the phone very angrily, "OK LISTEN UP! WHOEVER'S MAKING THESE PRANK CALLS BETTER STOP IT BEFORE I HUNT YOU DOWN AND RIP YOU LIMB FROM BLOODY LIMB! IF YOU GHOSTS ARE BEHIND THIS NONSENSE, I'LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU PASSED ON WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE!"

"Knuckles, why are you ever so upset? What's going on?" Professor E. Gadd said from the other end of the line.

"What the-PROFESSOR?" Knuckles said confused as to what was going on.

Taking the phone from Knuckles, Sam said, "Professor? Something's weird with these phones. How are you calling us anyway?"

"I'm transmitting through a special channel that gets into the phantom phone lines King Boo created in this mansion. I made it just in case I needed to try to make a call from the telephone room you are all now inside of," The nutty professor said. "Now listen, I forgot one thing to tell you before."

"What is it?" Sam asked curiously.

The professor took a deep breath and continued, "There is one ghost that I forgot to warn you about. His name is Uncle Grimmly. He likes to hide out in the darkest areas of the mansion, and he seems to like mirrors for some reason. Grimmly's a rather antisocial fellow so the family never really had a strong relationship with him. As soon as I had remembered this, I quickly hurried to the mansion and ran into Sonic, Clay, and Tails to inform them of this."

"Okay, so the power won't be back on immediately?" Sam asked.

"Yes, as such keep your wits about you," the small scientist said. His tone soon changed to one of urgency as beeping could be heard from the background. "UH OH! You'd better get ready! The ghosts have locked onto your position again! Good luck!"

As soon as the professor hung up, several large burly blue ghosts appeared and began to fly after the boys.

"Here we go again! Go Charmander! Flamethrower!" Sam ordered to the lizard pokemon.

"Charmander!" Charmander shouted right as it spewed a red-hot flamethrower at the ghosts, which in turn managed to get them to back off.

"Hehehehe. That's a good little fella to have in hand, Sam," Knuckles complimented right as he knocked the block of another ghost.

"Seriously got to really agree with Knux on that, Sammy," Miguel added as he dodged an attack from a bomb throwing ghost.

"Talk later, idiots!" Sam shouted in annoyance right as he turned to his pokemon. "Jynx, blow them back with Psychic!"

At those words, Jynx thrust her hands in front of her and used her psychic powers to push away many ghosts clearing a path. The four eyed looked to his two companions with seriousness as he spoke out to the two of them.

"Do you two want to end up in a frame!"

"You're right, Sammy. Sorry," Miguel said to his friend with a nod. "I was just caught up in the moment was all."

"Maybe now you won't get so sure of yourselves," Toad said in a disapproving tone.

"Let's just get going and end this fast, guys!" Knuckles said right the four continued on their path.

Meanwhile back in the lower foyer of the mansion, Sonic, tails, and Clay were fighting off ghosts so they could get to Uncle Grimmly before they could turn the lights back on.

"LOOK OUT!" Tails yelled as a purple spook raced toward Sonic at high speed.

"Another one of you, eh? Well try this; SONIC WIND!" With that command, the purple ghost was caught in a swirl of wind being torn up by the powerful attack. Clay captured it soon after.

"Good work, Sonic!" Tails cheered.

"That was nothing! Now let's go!" Sonic said in a cocky tone.

They continued on toward the wardrobe room which was the first room in the mansion that had a mirror, and would be a good place to start looking for Uncle Grimmly. Going into the wardrobe room, it seemed darker than the first time they had been there.

"Man, it seems much creepier now for some reason..." Tails said fearfully.

"GET OUT!" shouted an elderly voice. Looking around they saw a ghost of a man who looked like he was forty. He also looked rather grouchy.

"Get out I say! Can't a man have any peace!"

"Definitely Uncle Grimmly based on E. Gadd's word," Clay said in a wry tone.

"So that quack sent you in after me? Forget it! I'm not going back to that painting to be put on display with the rest of the annoying trifle in this place!" Grimmly said angrily.

"WHAT?" Sonic said, not believing what he heard. "Those people are your family!"

"I don't care! What have they ever done for me? Useless the whole lot of them."

At that, Clay captured the ghost without any given warning, "Gotcha, you antisocial bastard!"

Sonic smiled, saying, "Awesome! Now we can get to the breaker room easy! Now lets juice!"

With that, he took Tails and Clay by their arms and ran off at high speed to the basement. When they made it to the breaker room, they were assaulted by many ghosts, dead-set **(Pardon the pun)** on keeping the lights off.

"Sonic and I will keep 'em back! Go for the switch, Tails!" Clay shouted as he began attacking the ghosts with his Poltergust.

"Go for it, little buddy!" Sonic encouraged as he performed a few spins, knocking some ghosts away.

Tails scrambled for the switch flying at high speeds. When he grabbed onto it a ghost grabbed onto his twin tails and attempted to pull him away. "OH, NO YOU DON'T!" Tails growled as he fought back.

With all his might, he threw his weight down to shift the handle, and put the lever at the "ON" position. A rumble shook the house as the lights came back on and all the ghosts shrieked painfully before vanishing. Both Clay and Sonic rejoiced at the young fox's accomplishment.

"Awesome work, Tails!" Sonic cheered.

"Alright, everything's gonna be okay now!" Clay said enthusiastically. "Now let's get back to the attic, everyone's likely worried about us."

"Alright! We'll be off at Sonic Speed!"

With that said, Sonic shot off like a bolt of lightning with Clay and Tails following along behind to meet up with the others.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Well, that's that guys. Hoped all of you enjoyed this chapter. I especially liked the near end with the running gag that **NUTCASE1733** and **GANTZGUN** got watching something from the Muppets Show. It's a really good scream. Laters and hope to hear from you guys.


	11. Close Call Countdown

Sorry for the wait everyone but it's been really hard for me to getting this chapter up and running again. That and I needed to **NUTCASE1733** to make a few more important changes to this chapter. We missed a few of the ghosts when we were plotting the story. That and finishing up the fight with King Boo was tricky given that it's the final boss fight.

Anyways, with that said everyone, you all know which characters belong to whom given I've covered them in all in past chapters. With that said...enjoy!

* * *

><p>Back on the balcony, right as Sam and Luigi's group stepped out of the attic hallway; they were attacked by a huge mob of blue ghosts everywhere.<p>

"Great! Just what we need! More of those gas bags!" Knuckles shouted as he fought one off.

"Get outta here, air heads!" Toad shouted as he threw a vase at a large blue ghost. The lights all suddenly came back on. "Hey, the lights are on!"

All of the ghosts shrieked and then vanished in puffs of smoke when the lights came on. Needless to say that everyone gave out a good sigh of relief.

"Whew! Looks like the guys did it!" Miguel shouted as he looked to their friends and around the lighted balcony. "And right on time too! Now we could get the remaining spooks and head straight to King Turd himself."

Luigi looked at the GBH check out the map and spoke out, "The map says we have a few rooms in the attic plus the basement to cover."

"So let's get to work! We can't stand around all night! Heck, we only got less than an hour!" the small Toad person exclaimed.

Then out from the door came the rest of the group coming just in time to check out the scene. To say that they were happy to see the rest of their friends would be an understatement.

"Hey, we're back!" Clay said while holding up a Poltergust with a smile.

Tails looked at his watch and began to panic as he spoke out, "We really gotta move fast now, guys. We'd be lucky to finish before midnight."

"Then lets stop talking!" was all Sam said as he barged through the door and made his way through the hall and towards the next room.

Cutting through the phone room while catching a few more ghosts and a Boo on the way, they found themselves in what looked to be a toy workshop. Dollhouses and puppets were seen everywhere. However the fact the house was haunted made the room look quite sinister.

"T-This is disturbing..." Luigi muttered after seeing a marionette hung up on a support beam.

"Guys, look," Knuckles quietly spoke as he pointed to three ghosts. They stared forward apparently having not reacted to the group. They were soldiers by the look of things.

"They remind me of the royal guard that stand guard at Buckingham Palace," Sam said as he waved a hand in front of one of the soldier's faces. "Can't get a reaction."

Clay tried to vacuum them up but they appeared immune to the Poltergust. "What gives?"

Miguel took the Game Boy Horror to look up what these spooks were as he spoke up. "Ah, here we are. The Clockwork Soldiers. They belonged to a tightly-wound toy collector, but the man disappeared during the attack Bogmire unleashed on the family..." Miguel shuddered as he continued. "But neighbors say that when they saw the toy soldiers after the family died, they all looked like the collector..."

"Ok that's extremely creepy right there," Sonic said, looking very frightened out at the prospect.

"So what do we do here?" Tails asked. "We don't exactly have a lot of time to waste..."

"I really don't know," Sam said as he leaned against a table. When he did, a music box turned on, the sudden action startled the group. As if by magic, due to the music playing, the toy soldier ghosts sprung to life, making a series of clockwork motions as they presented their arms before marching across the room, "Well, that answers my question."

One of the three soldiers aimed its' gun at Sam and shot a cork at his face, "OW! That hurt!"

"They got a bead on us!" Toad screamed as the other two turned to flank the group.

Clay quickly began sucking up the soldiers, but instead of the ghosts getting trapped, their clockwork keys popped out. In doing so, the ghosts were immobilized.

"H-Help..." muttered one of the ghosts in a tortured tone. "S-Send me b-b-back..."

"HUH?" Miguel said, shocked. "You weren't talking a minute ago!"

"PLEASE! SEND ME BA-" The ghost was cut off as the key reformed on his back and he went back to being a mindless toy ghost.

"Ok, what the heck was that!" Knuckles said who got really freaked out by the scene.

"It's another variation of King Boo's curse to Mario! Some demons trap people in toys or dolls for eternity!" Sam said in horror at the realization. "That's why the toy soldiers resemble the family member who went missing!"

A moment later, the group captured all three toy ghosts to bring light into the room.

"Ok, that's really freaky and messed up!" Sonic said angrily. "I say we burn Bogmire's portrait and be done with it for good!"

"A sound idea providing we don't end up doing something stupid in the process..." Sam said under his breath.

"Hey, I found two keys here instead of just one!" Tails said in surprise.

"Hmm...One heads back to the third floor and the other opens a door right next to us," Luigi said as he looked at the map.

"Let's do the room across from us first and then see where that leads us," Sam said as he walked out the door.

Going across the hall and into the next room, they came into a store room full of old vases, jars, and urns.

"Someone obviously likes their jars," Toad said, bewildered by all the pottery in the room.

"Hmmm...Egyptian, Chinese, Greek, roman...the owner's got a valuable set," Sam said as he inspected each piece carefully.

"Well, thank ye, kindly boyo!" Said a somewhat jovial British voice. A red ghost popped out of one of the jars like a genie. "My name's Jarvis, I'm the one who collected these here jars!"

"An impressive collection no doubt," Tails said as he looked at the items.

"Yeah, not bad. As a treasure hunter myself I know quality when I see it," Knuckles said in an impressed tone.

"Well thank ye, lads! What brings you all here, then? Might it be that professor fellow?" Jarvis asked.

"Yeah we gotta put you away for a bit. We'll see what we can do about your jars if they mean that much though," Luigi said as he tried to appeal to the ghost's good side.

"WELL...Alright. I don't like that King Boo fella anyhow. He let loose the monster that shoved me into one of my jars, causing me to suffocate, resulting in me being bound to my precious jars!" Jarvis said with a hint of anger in his voice. "So go ahead and send me back to me painting lads, and don't worry about the jars. I be thinking of getting a new hobby anyway."

After capturing Jarvis and finding another key, they head downstairs to the third floor and found the door to the next room.

"Okay, we have two keys again...where does the one that Jarvis gave us lead?" Knuckles asked before they entered the remaining room on the third floor.

"It leads to the basement," Sam answered as he looked at the map. "It unlocks the door across from the breaker room and leads to a hallway which by the look of things leads to where Mario's at."

"Great!" Sonic said happily. "We're almost done!"

"Not so fast, Blue. We've still got a few portrait ghosts left," Miguel said as he got the key to the room ahead. "Okay, now let's see what's here."

Going into the next room, they all saw something that was truly bizarre. The whole room appeared to be upside down! The group was walking on the ceiling, which only became known when Luigi nearly tripped on the chandelier.

"Okay, this is just nuts," Luigi said flatly.

"G-Guys..." Tails stammered as he pointed to the bed on the floor above them; in it was a little girl ghost, no more than six at the time of death. A loud booming child's voice filled the air.

"GO AWAY...DO NOT DISTURB MY SLUMBER..."

"Did we walk onto the set of _The Exorcist_?" Sam said in annoyance.

"Who is that?" Knuckles asked as he felt very sad at the sight of the little girl ghost.

Clay looked at the ghost's data on the GBH and said, "Her name is Sue Pea...she was six years old when she passed away. Died in her sleep when she came to this guest room to rest after a day playing with Henry and Orville..."

"Poor kid..." Toad said feeling very bad about what had happened to her.

"This only further proves my point that we burn Bogmire's picture so that thing's destroyed for good," Sonic said, getting even angrier.

Suddenly the room shook. Looking to Sue Pea, they saw her sitting up in the bed (though given how the room was upside down the child looked like a bat perching on a cavern roof, which made the situation a tad creepier) and suddenly objects around the room began levitating and flying about.

"Now it really IS _The Exorcist_!" Sam screamed as he ducked after a vase was thrown at him.

Dodging the vanity mirror, Miguel said, "Hang on guys! Elmekia Lance!" After launching the holy spell at Sue, she was stunned after being thrown out of the bed by the impact.

Tails was suddenly coiled up by a rug. "H-HURRY!" The fox boy screamed.

Luigi quickly turned his Poltergust on Sue Pea and captured her soon after. All the activity in the room ceased at that moment.

"Okay, now that...was not cool..." Knuckles said as he wiped his forehead of sweat.

"Yeah, tell me about it! These ghosts are getting creepier by the second!" Toad said as he tried to calm his heart.

Checking the map, Clay said, "Okay, from here we just have some rooms in the basement to clear out now."

"Then let's juice it!" Sonic said as he ran off with the others following close behind.

The basement was divided into several rooms. First a storage room, then the mansion's plumbing network, and a cold storage unit. After clearing out the spooks in the store room and the pipe room, they made it to the cold storage area, which was the mansion's meat locker. The room was fridged and all covered in thick sheets of ice.

"BRRRR...w-w-wonder w-w-what's hiding here?" Luigi said as he shivered from the cold.

"L-Look guys..." Tails said as he pointed to a large block of ice. A ghost was seen trapped in it. The ghost wore a thick fur coat and looked like a mountain climber.

"S-Sir Weston..." Sam said with a shiver as he read the Game Boy Horror's description. "D-Died climbing the t-tallest p-p-peak in Ice L-land..."

Miguel heard just how horrible it would be to die in an avalanche or to simply freeze to death. It was a horrible, slow, and painful way to go.

"How d-do we get to him?" Toad asked no one in particular.

"S-Sonic or Knuckles w-will have to m-melt the ice..." Clay said as he rubbed his gloved hands together.

Knuckles stepped up and sported a grin. "I'll take care of it then," with that said the red echidna channeled his chaos power to his fists, causing them to catch fire. "HIIIYAA!" Knuckles shouted as he began beating at the ice block with his fiery punches, breaking and melting the ice effortlessly. Once the ghost was out however...

"OWCH OWCH OWWW!" Sir Weston screamed while trying to put out the flames on his coat. "HOT HOT HOT! TOO HOT! Didn't your parents tell you not to play with fire! There's a price to pay for setting fires in this mansion!"

With that said Sir Weston, with his ghostly power, caused sharp ice spikes to erupt from the frozen ground and raced towards the group like a wave.

"LOOK OUT!" Miguel said as he dove away from the incoming attack.

"AAAH!" Toad screamed as he struggled to run. Sam pushed him away at the last second, only to be hit by the spikes himself, and he was frozen in a block of ice.

"Hang on, kid!" Knuckles yelled as he busted Sam out. "Are you alright?"

Sam was extremely cold right now from the hit. "F-F-Finish this f-fight quick..."

Toad quickly reached into Sam's pocket and pulled out one of his pokeballs. "I hope this is that little lizard friend of yours!" Toad said as he let the pokeball fly out, and lucky for Toad, Charmander emerged.

Toad looked to the lizard and said, "Hey pal, your trainer's in a tough spot. Mind listening to me for a bit?"

Charmander looked to Sam who was shivering, and became very worried. He then saw Sir Weston's attack on the others and became pretty mad. "CHAAAAAAAR! CHARMANDER!"

Sir Weston looked over and said, "Another fire? Didn't you hear what I said! NO FIRES!" The ghost was hit by a Flamethrower before he could attack. "AAAAAAUGH!"

Charmander was relentless in his assault and eventually Sir Weston collapsed on the ground, making it easy for Luigi to catch him. Afterwards they quickly left the cold storage so Sam could get a chance to warm up.

"Sammy, are you alright?" Miguel asked, worried about Sam getting hypothermia from the experience.

"I w-will be in a moment...just need Charmander for warmth, and a heal spell would help...ACHOOOO!"

Charmander responded by using Fire Spin on Sam, the whirling vortex doing it's job to gradually warm the young man up despite his shouts of pain from the fire.

"YEEEOOOWCH! DON'T WARM ME UP LIKE THAT!" Sam yelled. Miguel then provided the healing spell, and Sam was back to his old self again.

"If we're done, we gotta take the key we just got here and go back to the attic," Luigi said as he pointed to the map. "The final room before King Boo is up there."

"And I bet I know who's there too," Sonic said as he stretched his legs to get himself ready for a good run. "C'mon, we don't have much time left!"

With that said, Sonic sped off carrying the group to the attic one at a time. Eventually, they all stood before the last locked door. Needless to say that everyone was pretty anxious at this point tonight.

"Here we are, the last room," the four eyed young man said while carefully scanning the room for any activity. "Thanks for the speed assistance getting from basement to attic, Sonic. I think we're gonna make it."

"The last room before we check out that last room in the basement," Clay added as he too looked around the room. "I bet Van Gore is in here."

"So what are we doing here just lying around? Let's go and get the guy so that we could get to Mario!" Knuckles said as he and the group all marched in.

When the group got inside, they all saw what appeared to be a typical artist's studio. Models of the other family members are seen and paintings of the many ghost types are seen on display as well. It was also filled with blank canvases, buckets of colored paint, leftover clay sculptures, anything an aspiring artist needs.

"Zo, you haf come, yes?" spoke a voice with a bad French accent as his presence is finally made known to the group.

What they saw was a green-hued ghost who wore a green sweater and red beret turned to the group. Van Gore, as the GBH identified him as, was seen painting a treasure chest on canvas.

"You came to zee the miracle of my craft? Very well!" was what the ghostly painter said as he waved his brush and, like magic, orange ghosts flew out of one of the paintings.

"Oh great! WE don't have time to be dealing with these things!" Miguel said while annoyed at the orange ghosts.

"Hehehe! Then let it too me!" Knuckles said while glowing red and began to rush towards the ghosts at high speeds.

"Wait!" Sam shouted to the red echidna but was too late to stop the attack.

Of course, Knuckles' attack passed right through the ghosts harmlessly as he zipped through them like air.

"Use some of your chaos powers, Knucklehead! Remember that these are ghosts not people!" Sam shouted to Knuckles just as the guardian landed.

"Ugh! Now you tell me, Sam!"

"Heheheh. Now you're talking, Sammy!" Sonic said while glowing with blue windy energy. "That means that we don't get to hold back! Sonic Wind!"

Knuckles could only sigh in defeat just as he spoke, "If that's the case then I'm going to resort to using this! Thunder Arrow!"

Seconds later, all the ghosts were zapped and then sucked up by Clay who held his Poltergust. The young plumber looked to the artist with an impatient look as he spoke.

"Gore, we don't have time for this! We have to save our older brother!"

"Hmph! Not my buzinezz," Van Gore said as he continued to paint on his canvas.

"Are you really so upset about not selling a single painting that you would condemn another being to death for no reason?" Sam asked while at the same time amazed at how the ghost painter would be so callous.

"I just vish to be left to my verk," Van Gore said as he continued to paint.

"WHAT WORK? You're dead!" the four eyed teen retorted in a manner that was actually annoyed.

"Gotta agree with Sammy's logic on that one, man," Sonic added while shrugging in agreement.

"Look, sir. I'm sorry that people don't appreciate your works of art, but that's no excuse for taking it out on us!" Miguel spoke out while looking to the old ghost.

Van Gore could only look at the group ruefully as he responded, "You have no idea vat I have endured..."

"You were killed by a demon that allowed itself to ally with King Boo. If anything you should have figured out who the real enemy is," Sam spoke up boldly just as those words got Gore's full attention. "That demon you were killed by played on your fears. I bet that Bogmire just made it seem like you never sold a painting so you would end up as you are."

"Yeah, and I wouldn't put it pass that shadowy little snake in the grass," Knuckles said with anger in his tone.

"I would bet my whole game system that Boggy must've cursed your works to make it so that your sales won't be as successful," the young brown haired man responded as looked to the ghostly artist with suspicion. "Bet you were really happy for when you first started out, didn't you?"

Van Gore only stood there in silence right before he answered, "...I vas..."

"Bogmire saw what you had and decided to play it against you then," Sam said while at the same time thinking. "What better a way for a man to meet his doom than to crush his dreams?"

"ENOUGH!" shouted the artist just as he waved his brush once more, and the treasure chest he painted earlier opened like magic, and out popped the final key the group needed. "Go. Just...go..."

"We need to capture you first though," Luigi said while feeling a bit reluctant to do so.

"Fine. Juzt be done with it all," was all that Van Gore said before he too was captured like all the others.

Toad walked over to where the key dropped and grabbed it just as he spoke, "Man, talk about rough..."

Before he could say anything, Sam noticed a round shape under a table cloth and spoke with a smile, "And here's revenge." With those words, he removed the cloth and out reveals the final Boo needed to be caught. "Hello, you little bastard."

"Uh..." was all that the Boo said just before he was sucked into Luigi's poltergust.

"Heheheheh. Good eye there, Sammy," Sonic complimented the four eyed teen.

"I'll say, Blue. I'm not in the mood to be making fun of the little turd after hearing Van Gore's story," Miguel said with a sober tone.

"Got that right, kid. We've got other things to do. So how much time do we have left?" Knuckles said while turning to Sam.

"Twenty-four minutes and counting," Sam answered while he turned to Sonic. "We can still do this. Sonic, get us each downstairs and in a hurry."

"Heheheheh. Yes sir, Sammy boy! Up over and gone!" the blue hedgehog said before moving the group one at a time toward their destination.

Around three minutes of carrying and rushing each member, Sonic managed to get them all to the final stage. In the basement hall the group walked up to the door at the end of the hall and went through it. They then found themselves in a gloomy, winding hallway. The Boo Radar began to pick up a signal.

"Definitely King Boo. We got all fifty of his followers," Sam said as determination filled his being.

"Hang on Mario. We're coming," Clay said as they made it to the final door. They could feel the supernatural tension being emitted around it.

"This is it, guys. Time for the grand finale," Toad said with a shiver in his voice.

"Okay, let's end this," the young fox said while at the same time carefully opening the door.

The group heads inside to find what appeared to be an odd shrine. The place gave off an air that would cause anyone to shiver out of control. Despite Luigi's uncharacteristic bravery at this point, he shook in his boots. Especially given the sight of King Boo right in front of the portrait of Mario.

"How truly fitting this is. It's true what they say about art; it takes truly refined tastes to appreciate it. The way you plead for help Mario, I find it satisfying," King Boo said with a satisfied tone as he still gazed at the Mario painting with his prisoner still trying to break free. "Perhaps it's merely due to how much trouble your family has been to us ghosts over the years. I can't believe you got suckered into thinking you won that fake contest. I mean seriously! Your brothers came all this way to be made into paintings as well..."

_"We'll see about that, ya twisted psycho..." _Clay thought as he clutched his Poltergust tightly.

"However..." the smaller but majestic Boo turned to the group, "...Mario does look lonely. Perhaps a Miguel, Knuckles, Tails, Toad, Sam and Sonic painting would look good as well!"

"Like hell that's going to happen, pal!" Knuckles said while raising his fists in attack position.

"Yeah! We don't have the time to be your works of art for eternity," Sonic added.

"Got that right, guys," the brown haired teen said while getting his own spells ready to attack. "And the last thing we want to do is be apart of your paintings, Boo-Boo."

"So hand over our brother and we MIGHT forget this ever happened," Clay said with a bit of a menacing edge in his tone.

"Do not threaten me, boy! I will not fear a household cleaning appliance!" King Boo responded as his body started to glow with magic power. "If you wish to be reunited with Mario so badly, then so be it!"

King Boo focused his power, and changed the painting of Mario into one of Bowser before flying into it. The group were all swept up by an unnatural wind and sucked into the painting as well. The next thing they knew, they were on the mansion's roof. The electromagnetic field was back, but now it looked like they were surrounded by flames. It was as if they had been sent to the lava pits of Hell itself.

"Okay, this is definitely something I did not expect!" Sam said with surprise.

"Oh lord! This is just like Red Mountain...except without all the robots!" Sonic added with a matter of fact tone.

Miguel looked around the area until he stopped and looked up as he spoke, "Uh g-guys! I think we might have b-bigger problems!"

"What is that?" was all Toad could say before it all came to them at once.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAH!" the older Plumber screamed as he and the gang saw a very horrifying sight.

With a loud thud, everyone saw the imposing figure of Bowser roared furiously. The most terrifying aspect of the scene was that Bowser was currently forty feet tall! Honestly, if it were anyone else, they could have sworn that they were facing Godzilla himself.

"Oh great! Just what we need! A forty foot tall shelled-dragon!" the red echidna said with a bit of a shiver just as Bowser spewed a fireball right at the group.

"Run for it! MOVE!" Clay shouted right as he and everyone else ran from the flames.

"How do we fight him?" Tails asked as he flew to evade another fireball spewed at his direction.

"He's too big for usual tactics to have effect!" Sam shouted as he leapt away from blocks of rubble created by Bowser knocking over a stone pillar.

"W-We gotta do something!" Luigi shouted as he ran around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Bowser stopped and formed a couple of large black spiked balls and threw them out at the group. The pillars messed up their trajectory a bit so they didn't hit anyone.

"That's a new one..." the four eyed young man said right as he saw the spheres flash red. "Wait! Those are bombs!"

"What is it, Sammy? Did you finally crack?" Knuckles shouted while gliding around the skies to hope to evade the blast.

"Knux, now's not the time!" Sonic said while at the same time running around the place.

"Got that right, blue!" Miguel shouted as he saw the bombs and gets an idea as he turned to Knuckles. "I've got an idea! Knux, when we you the first new bomb fall and land, grab it and haul it at Giant Wack!"

"Hehehe. I'm on it, kid!" Knuckles said with a nod preparing for anything.

"Do it now, guys!" Sam shouted while dodging another attack from the giant koopa.

Miguel's plan began as Knuckles quickly sent one of the bombs at Bowser. The explosion blows Bowser's head right off...literally.

"AAAAAAAAAAUGH!" Toad screamed as he saw the head flying around, and also saw sparks on Bowser's body. "Hey, it's a just a robot!"

King Boo staggered out of the surprisingly realistic Mecha Bowser to catch his non-existent breath. Of course the group reacted right away. Mostly from Clay as he shouted to his brother with their Poltergusts armed and ready.

"GET HIM, LUIGI!"

"EH!" was all King Boo said as he squealed as he fought the suction of the two poltergusts.

"Oh yeah! Keep it up guys!" the small toad man cheered right as he saw the robot's head next to him, and dodged a chunk of ice that it spat out. "WHOA! Watch out guys, that machine's head is still active!"

"I've got it covered little buddy!" Sonic said as he looked to the head while sticking his tongue out. "Hey, robot brains! Your mother's used as a soup can!"

That crack, of course, earned the spiky blue hedgehog a glare from the robot head and before you know it, it tried to swallow him.

"Hahahahahah. Nice try, robo Wack!" Sonic quipped as he dodged another bite attack from the robot while looking at its jaws. "Whew! What big nasty teeth! I've seen better on my dentist appointments!"

Miguel, on the other hand, looked to both Clay and Luigi who were both still trying to catch King Boo as he spoke, "How's it going with rounding up King Turd, guys?"

"He's still fighting!" Luigi answered right as his younger brother responded with a grunt.

Moments later, the bluish ghost managed to break free of their hold and flew back into the robot. The head flew back down on the body, but due to Sonic's ploy, the head got put on backwards. Boy was it a humorous sight.

"Oh god, and I thought Dr. Eggman's messed-up Egg Golem was hilarious..." Sam snickered as he looked at the sight.

"Hahahahahah! OH now that's a good one, Sammy!" Sonic added with a grin as he noticed the Bowser Giant trying to walk. "Though tin grin doesn't feel the same though."

The robot staggered about aimlessly before putting the head right back on and threw out more bombs. Of course Sam was waiting for it given that he's armed himself with a large hammer moving it like a golf club.

"FORE!" Sam shouted right as he knocked a bomb back at the robot, once again blowing its head right off.

"TEN MINUTES 'TILL MIDNIGHT!" Tails said panicked right as he looked to his watch.

"We almost got him, keep it up!" Clay shouted right as he began trying to suck up King Boo again.

"You won't win, you jerk!" the green clad plumber said holding onto the Poltergust tightly with all his might.

"I WON'T...LOSE! I'LL GET YOU PLUMBERS IF IT'S THE LAST THING I...!" was what King Boo shouted before being sucked into Luigi's vacuum. All that was left of the powerful ghost was his crown, a giant red ruby, was left behind. The Bowser Robot toppled over, narrowly missing the group as it crashed.

"YEEEEEEHAAAAW! WE DID IT!" Toad cheered.

"Whew! Now that's something guys! But way too close for comfort," Knuckles sighed in relief while looking at huge now lifeless robot.

"We can talk about it later for when we get outta here, Knux," Miguel said while looking to group. "Right now we've got to get Mario back to normal!"

Suddenly the electro magnetic field disappeared around the area. The group soon found themselves reappearing back in the weird altar room in the basement.

It was then that E. Gadd's popped up on the GBH as he shouted, "Boys, are you ok? What happened?"

"We caught King Boo!" the four-eyed toon teen said with a smile. "Mario's safe and sound, but we need you to fire up the portificationizer right away."

"Oh good! Good! Tell me the details of the battle when you get down here. I'll be waiting!" the old professor said with a smile.

The group then all turned to the painting and see Mario passed out. Needless to say that everyone all sweatdropped at the sight.

"Oh...hehehehe. Seems that Mario was so overwhelmed with relief he just fell asleep," E. Gadd said with a chuckle.

"Hehehehe. That's for sure, Doc," Sonic grinned as he looked to the painting. "But let us all get outta here so that Mario could return to normal!'

Luigi marched over to the painting and took it off the wall. "Let's-a go!" the green clad plumber said as he and the rest of the group ran back outside with Mario safely in toll.

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><p><strong>AN:** Whew! Finally, King Boo Boo's gone and Mario's saved but don't think that this is done by a long shot guys. There's one more chapter before this story ends and I promise that it would be worth the wait. Just got to get myself settled into college before getting the chapter done. Anyways, hope to see you all favor my story and leave me a good review. Laters!


	12. The Morning After

Sorry for the delay in the final chapter, everyone. Just that I've finally got settled with assignments given to me by CSUN and I tell you that it's not easy juggling a new chapter in a few days...that and my partner **NUTCASE1733** wasn't able to look over it fast enough given that he's got a tough time himself so we're both even.

Anyways forgive our delay at the chapter folks but now it's here and I hope you all enjoy the ending. Later and enjoy!

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><p>Moments later, the entire group found themselves back at E. Gadd's lab. The old professor in question smiled as he looked to the group with a smile on his face.<p>

"You made it kids! Excellent work!" E. Gadd said while looking to the Mario painting under Luigi's arm. "Now due to King Boo being contained, the magic he has on Mario's painting is kaput, so it will give us the time we need to put the rest of the ghosts back in their portraits."

"You also got King Boo as a bonus too, talk about karma kickback," Sam said with a smile.

"Got that right. King Turd deserves what he got after all he's put us through, Sammy," Miguel added while chuckling at how King Boo was thoroughly humiliated moments ago.

"Hehehehehe. Well, you guys gotta admit that it's been real fun during this whole adventure," Sonic said with a playful chuckle.

"Yeah some points of this trip weren't really too bad," Toad said with a shrug while at the same time relaxing on a nearby chair.

"Hehehe, that's the spirit!" said while being influenced by cheerful atmosphere within the room. "Now listen up; without King Boo's influence, the mansion has also vanished into the night as well. However, all that gold you all found seems to be real. It's no interest to me though so you can keep it! Now, let's get these ghosts framed."

"I'll go first. We save the best for last," Clay said as he got his Poltergust ready along with Luigi.

"Hahaha! Got that right, little bro," the older plumber laughed right as he got his own Poltergust ready to transfer his own catches into Ghost Portrificationizer.

Moments later, after the other ghosts were put through the Ghost Portrificationizer, there was one more catch that needed to be put away.

"Now for King Boo," Luigi said right as he pumped the evil spirit through the huge machine.

"I hate to say this but this'll be fun," Tails said right as a small smile crept on his young face.

"Now we just sit back and enjoy the show," Sam said with a toony smile while sitting back on a chair and relaxed.

Sonic could only nod in agreement as he sprinted in a flash and showed up moments later with a huge tub of popcorn ready to eat as he passed it on to everyone, "Hehehehehe. I'll say, guys! Popcorn?"

"After all we've been through, I'm in the mood for a snack," Knuckles chuckled as he got some popcorn himself.

"Yeah, King Turd's has been asking for this since we've met him!" Miguel responded as he too took some popcorn and enjoyed the show.

Everyone watched as they saw the king of all ghosts being put through the rinse cycle of the Ghost Portrificationizer.

"S-STOP! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO MEEEEEE!" King Boo wailed as he spun about in the churning water as he was washed of his dark powers. "YOU WILL ALL PAY DEARLY!"

King Boo was then pushed through the ringer, eliciting a yelp of pain from the spook as he was sent along the conveyor belt. Then the steam press came down.

"YYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOWCH! HOW DARE YOU TREAT ROYALTY THIS WAY!" King Boo screeched with pain. Then the conveyor belt pushed him along where electricity was shot down on him, paralyzing him and thus putting him into a particular pose. "YOU'LL SUFFER FOR THIS! I SWEAR IT!" King Boo yelled as he was put into the framing machine.

Moments later, when King Boo's portrait exited the machine, he was seen in a comical crying pose in his painting prison. Needless to say it was a very funny thing to behold.

"How do you like that? He's an even bigger baby than Bowser!" Clay said with a snicker while looking at the portrait.

"Heheheheheheheh! Man, now that was good!" Toad said with a smile.

"Now we can free Mario. To do that we put the painting here at the end and run the process the opposite way," E. Gadd said with a chuckles as he looks to his masterpiece.

"Ok, all ready!" Luigi said as he loaded up the painting.

The machine started to come to life as Mario was being de-framed. Of course, needless to say that the next scene was very comical that it would work for a Saturday morning cartoon.

"!" Mario shouted comically as he had his frame removed.

"Ooooh...Chihuahua!" Miguel said with a wince at the scene.

"Yeow! Now that's gotta hurt," Knuckles nodded with a wince of his own.

"Professor, is this safe?" Tails asked the old professor with a worried expression on his young face.

"I never put a person through this treatment, so this is new for me," E. Gadd responded as he too watched the scene unfold. In the process he was seen jotting down notes of the procedure.

Mario yelped in pain as he was being zapped by electricity to give him back muscle control and hollered out once more when the steam press came down. When he was put into the washing machine, he began screaming as he was sloshed about like old dirty laundry. Mario's voice was drowned out by the water but they could tell Mario felt like he was on a roller coaster based on what they could hear.

"MAN...I REALLY feel sorry for him now..." Sonic said with a spinning head as he watched on.

"Oohhh, I hope that Mario's gonna be alright," Miguel said as the scene went on.

After the last step was done, Mario was sucked through a pipe and dropped at the box where normally the ghosts were deposited. All was silent for a moment until Luigi got up and carefully marched up to the machine to see what happened.

"Mario! Are you alright!" Luigi said while speaking through the vent shaft of the Portrificationizer.

"How do we get him out anyway?" the youngest Mario brother asked in both worry and confusion.

Suddenly, the machine shook for a brief second before Mario was shot out of the slot like a Bullet Bill, knocking Clay and Luigi down as the oldest Mario brother was sent rocketing across the room.

"Mama-mia..." Clay said in a daze.

Luigi was the first to get up just in time to see Mario turn over, totally dazed as his eyes swirled in their sockets. A part of the machine was stuck around Mario's neck as well. Luigi shed a tear of happiness seeing that his brother Mario was back and all in one piece.

"Heheh...haha..." Luigi chuckled as he saw Mario dazed with the machine part stuck around his neck.

Everyone looked at Mario and saw how ridiculous he looked in his current state. Everyone began to laugh hard at the scene.

"Hahahahahaha! OH man, now that's great!" Miguel said while at the same time trying to keep his gut from bursting.

"Yeah, and I thought that only the toon world has some good and crazy antics," Sonic added while continuing to laugh.

Sam was rolling on floor in laughter as he added his own two cents, "Hahaha! Oh man I think I'm gonna pass out!"

Mario shook off the dizziness as he spoke looking all confused, "What the...? What's everyone laughing at?"

"Heh heh heh! Nice new accessory, Mario! Guess you needed something to replace the hat, huh?" Toad answered while snickering at the oldest Mario brother.

Mario looked at himself while looking at himself with a surprised expression, "Aaah! What the heck!"

"Don't worry m'boy, I'll have that off in a sec," was what E. Gadd said just as he pulled out a set of huge and sharp looking bolt cutters.

"M-MAMA-MIA!" the older plumber yelped as he took off running; the sudden burst of acceleration breaking him free of the machine part that was stuck around his neck.

"Mario, wait! It came off!" Clay said to his brother while still laughing.

"Yeah! Cool it, pasta man! No need for a stroke!" added the red echidna with a chuckle of his own.

Mario looked at his neck and sighed with relief, "Whew! Okay, good. Now would someone mind telling me what happened? I arrive at the mansion, get ambushed by ghosts, and before I could use my Starman to take them out they nab me and take it away. And where's my hat, right boot, and glove?"

"Here they are, Mario. We didn't even have to use the Starman either," Luigi said right as he handed his older brother the said items.

"Whoa! Now that's good to know, bro!" Mario said while looking through carefully through each of the items.

"And I would really like to thank you, young fella," E. Gadd said to the group with a smile. "What happened will likely make the history books of paranormal science, Mario! And I am honored to have met your brothers, as it will make the story all the more credible to the public!"

"Yeah we had to go through hell to find ya, big bro," Clay said while at the same time calming down his chuckle. "Surprising that it was all in one night."

"Got that right, Clay," Sonic responded to Clay's word with a smile on his face. "It was a silly but very exciting adventure for us all, man."

"I'll say, Blue," Miguel added as he caught his breath and looked to with a mischievous grin. "Uh, sir? Mind if I add a new piece of art to your collection? This one would really help with King Boo Boo's attitude. Hehehehehe."

"Hmm? Why sure, young man," the old scientist said while a bit curious at the expression. "What is it?"

"Yeah, I don't recall seeing any other ghost since we began this nightmare," Toad said while a bit curious at what the teen had in mind.

"Relax, it's actually something that inspired me thanks to tonight, man," Miguel said while turning to Sam with a childish smile. "Got a colored pencils and a pad, man?"

"Okay, sure, man," the four eyed teen said as he pulled out the items in question.

"You do know it takes a long time to make a proper work of art, right?" Luigi said with a skeptical look.

"Yeah Miguel, and some of us wanna go to bed now," Tails added as he yawned a bit in exhaustion.

"I know that, guys, which is why I'm going to make a quick sketch before turning in," Miguel answered right as he started his work with the paper while sketching with the pencil. "I'll do all the coloring in the morning given how long it would take for me to do so. Go on ahead and sleep, guys."

"Yeah, we all could use the sleep after all that's happened. I'm going to bed!" Knuckles said with a yawn right as marched to a bed.

"Got that right, knucklehead. We could check out Miguel's masterpiece in the morning when we're all up and fresh. Goodnight, everyone," the blue hedgehog said as he and the others marched to sleep.

With that said, everyone in the group went to sleep while Miguel continued work on his quick sketch. Around a half hour later, he finished his work and was able to get some well deserved rest. Nine hours later in the morning, everyone began to wake up and one by one each felt the effects of last night's adventure.

"Ahhh! Man, what a night!" Knuckles announced with a yawn as he entered the dining room of E. Gadd's home.

"I feel real sore after all that..." Sam complained as he tried to rub a sore spot on his shoulder.

Mario's stomach growled loudly "When do we eat?"

"Heheheheheh. I could see that after all you've been through last night, Mario, you're hungry as ever," Sonic said with a chuckle as he began to stretch to get ready for his morning jog.

"Say, where's Miguel at, guys? I didn't see him around this morning," Knuckles asked while finally able to wake up fully.

As if to answer the question, Miguel, now up and about, came into the room with a big smile on his face while carrying his sketchbook under his arms, "Hey, guys! Nice sleep?"

"Are you kidding?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We were lucky to get any sleep considering how wore out we were..." Luigi added with an annoyed yawn.

"So what do you got to show us?" Tails asked while looking at the closed sketchbook.

"Yeah! What's on the picture man?" Sonic asked as curious as his young friend.

"Something that didn't take as long as people say it would, Blue. Look at it and see for yourself, man," Miguel said with a smile while showing his picture to the entire group.

Everyone looked to see the picture in question was of King Boo in a crib crying like a little baby, pacifier and all. The title was even named, _"King Boo-Boo, King of the Whiners! Also known as King Turd." _

"Okay, that was pretty clever," Sam said with a snicker at the sight.

"Hehehe, mail it to Bowser so that we could show him how he failed again," Clay said with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Well, this one's for E. Gadd's Gallery so that King Boo-Boo could watch it, Clay," Miguel said while holding his creation. "If someone has a copier then I'd do it!"

In response to the words, Sam, being the toon that he is, pulled out a copier from his pocket with a smile on his face, "Ask and ye shall receive. Heheheheh!"

"Oh, this should be good," Knuckles smiled while watching the scene before him.

Moments later, after the copying of Miguel's picture was complete, they all checked and compared the two, which are both identical to one another.

"There! All done!" Miguel declared while proud of the copy.

"Hehehehehe...Sweet," Sam said as he placed the picture in an envelope and also wrote a letter to Bowser and slipped it in as well. "This'll really light a fire under him."

"Alright, excellent," Clay smiled with the work.

"Hehehehe. Well, too bad we can't see the look on turtlehead's face for when he sees it," Sonic said with a smile.

"That's for sure, Blue," Knuckles said with a smile while his stomach growled a bit. "But right now, how's about we all get breakfast?"

"Well, you guys go on ahead," Miguel said while putting the sketch in a frame that was given to him by E. Gadd. "I'm going to put this right near King Turd so that he could see it."

"Okay paisano, catch ya later," Mario said with a wave.

"Right. Just don't take too long, man. Otherwise Mario would eat your portion," Sonic said with a mischievous grin at his joke.

"Grrr! Shut up, spike head!" Mario answered with a glare to the blue hedgehog.

"Come on, guys! Let's not get into a fight! It's only 9:00!" Toad complained to the two opponents.

"Right, guys. Save it until 10:30!" Knuckles added with growl of annoyance.

Everyone laughed as they all, save for Miguel, went to the kitchen to eat their breakfast. Moments later, the young man went to E. Gadd's gallery to put his masterpiece right in front of King Boo to remind the King of Boos of his failure. As he walking toward the exit Miguel took notice of all the portraits that were hung and looked to each one with curious wonder.

"Man, I feel sorry for some of these people," Miguel said to himself as he who looked to Bogmire while childishly sticking his tongue out to the portrait. "At least you won't be hurting anyone for a long time, Boggy." He then turned to Melody with a sad smile on his face before he spoke again. "And it's a shame that you aren't alive, Mel. If anything, you would have been a nice girl for me to date."

"Why Miguel, you say the nicest things," said a sweet voice coming from Melody's portrait.

The young man jumped a bit at hearing the female ghost's voice from the painting, "Wh-Whoa! You can talk, Mel?"

"I may be in a painting but it doesn't mean that I still can't see or hear you," Melody responded to Miguel's jumpy reaction.

"I-I see. G-Good to know, Mel. Whew," Miguel said as he calmed down a bit but suddenly sweatdrop as a thought crossed his mind. "Uh, does that mean that Boggy as well as the other ghosts could hear me too?"

"Yes I can, you little brat..." Bogmire answered with low spooky tone in his voice.

"Shut it you disgrace! No one cares about you!" Slim shouted with an annoyed tone.

"You are lucky I haf been sealed away or else I'd have burned your portrait to teach you a lesson!" Van Gore added with a sneer.

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, FLESH PUPPETS!" King Boo shouted from all the way within his own gallery room.

"W-Well, anyways, thanks for listening, Melody," the young man said to the pretty ghost in the portrait while ignoring both King Boo and Bogmire's sneers. "And I mean what I said, just that I've always been shy around girls. Especially pretty ones."

"Don't you worry about it, Miguel," the ghostly pianist said with a smile on her face. "Perhaps we could still go out though. But it may be a while before we can get a new home."

It was then that E. Gadd walked into the gallery room as he spoke in a chipper tone, "Good news my ghostly friends! Except for you, Bogmire..."

"Screw you, oldie!" the shadow ghost portrait said in a childish tone that made him even less threatening than before.

The old scientist ignored Bogmire's words as he continued, "Anyways, the Mario brothers decided to donate all of the treasure that King Boo hoarded up to allow me to hire a construction crew to build a new mansion for you all!"

"Seriously?" Neville exclaimed in surprise at what he heard.

"At last, a new home!" the family butler said with happiness in his voice.

"Heh, good for you, guys! This is great!" Miguel said to everyone in the room save for Bogmire, who he ignored most of the time. "I'm sure that it would be a good home given with how much cash we were able to bag in our little adventure."

"It should, laddie," E. Gadd nodded with a smile. "All the money we have found was made about the same time the family passed away so at the rate of inflation they should be getting a home far grander than their original one! And with modern conveniences they'll come to enjoy their new home a great deal!"

"Heh, that would be good for you, Mel," Miguel said as he looked to Melody. "There's plenty of good music out there since your time being alive and they're all awesome."

"Oh thank you, professor! This sounds wonderful!" Melody said with a smile at hearing the news.

It was then that Clay's voice was heard from the other room as he shouted, "Miguel, hurry up and get back here, your food's getting cold!"

"Alright, mom! Coming!" Miguel shouted to Clay with a chuckle while looking to Melody's picture. "Say after breakfast, think we could take time to chat a bit, Mel?"

"That sounds great, Miguel. I would love to," the female ghost said with a smile on her face.

"That's good, Mel," the young man said as he threw a kiss on her direction. "I'll see ya in a bit, Melody."

Melody could only blush at the sentiment right as Miguel walked out the door and toward the kitchen. A few moments later, the scene shifts back to the breakfast table, where Toad started to narrate about what he told Peach about last night's events.

"So I called her highness and told her what happened. She was about to march over to Darkland herself and beat Bowser's head in with a baseball bat!"

"Oh man, now that's something, Toad! Hehehehe. I don't know whether to laugh at the huge turtle or feel sorry for him," Sonic said amazed and a bit terrified at what he learned.

"I'll say, Blue," Miguel added just as he came into the room to listen more to what's happened.

"She would have done it too if Toad hadn't told her what Sam had planned to send through the mail," Clay continued with his story.

"Yeah we agreed to lay low until Bowser receives the mail then we'd enjoy the fun," Sam added while giving a chuckle at the thought.

"Oh man, is he gonna flip when he sees it," Knuckles chuckled as he smiled at the thought.

Sonic started to look at his watch as he spoke up, "And if knowing the timing of the postal offices of this world, he should be getting the package right about..."

Suddenly, echoing from a great distance was Bowser's furious voice that sounds more terrifying than usual. "WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THOSE PLUMBERS...!" there was a loud and dangerous roar that was heard over the distance along with a huge explosion.

"Well, word's out now," Tails said with a sigh as he shivered a bit.

"Heh, I'll say, man," Miguel added with a smile as he looked to everyone and spoke out, "So...anyone up for a game?"

At that day, the gang decided to spend the day just chilling out and playing a couple of games...well, at least until Wack cooled off. However, despite the craziness they had all went through last night, it did bring out very good laughs. Not to mention brought a good couple together despite one being a mortal and another being a ghost. And...Well, who knows? It would also lead to more adventures to come.

**FIN.**

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><p><strong>AN:**And that's that everyone. Mansion Madness is done. A bit later than expected but finished nonetheless. Anyways, I hope that all of you enjoyed this guys. Both me and **NUTCASE1733** worked really hard on this given that this is an RP to begin with. Sorry for not getting up early in the summer but for me it's been hard to get inspiration to do so. That and doing mostly RPs was a bit distracting as well as homelife that is hard to deal with.

So if anyone here in this site would like to see more fanfics like this, please give me a PM or send it to Clay and we could do what we can. Anyways, thank you all who reviewed. Laters and good day.

**Maurice A. Nigma**


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